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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24949228">(Loki X Reader) Secret (Almost) Lovers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LVE32/pseuds/LVE32'>LVE32</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Avengers Family, Bed Sex, Bedroom Sex, Black Widow - Freeform, Bruce Banner - Freeform, Captain America - Freeform, Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, Cute, Cute Ending, Dating, Domestic Avengers, Established Relationship, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, F/M, Feel-good, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, Gentle Kissing, Gentle Sex, Hawkeye - Freeform, Healthy Relationships, Hulk - Freeform, Iron Man - Freeform, Kissing, Light-Hearted, Loki (Marvel) Feels, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Loki fluff, Loki is a good boyfriend, Loki is good at sex, Mild Sexual Content, Mild Smut, Multiple Orgasms, Multiple Sex Positions, Neck Kissing, New York City, Oral Sex, Porn With Plot, Post-Battle of New York (Marvel), Prisoner Loki (Marvel), Protective Loki (Marvel), Rough Kissing, Sex, Sexy Times, Smut, Stark Tower, Teasing, Thor - Freeform, Thor Odinson - Freeform, Top Loki (Marvel), Touching, Vaginal Fingering, dating loki, ends in smut, natasha romanov - Freeform, set on earth, steve rogers - Freeform, the hulk - Freeform, tony stark - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:47:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>22,087</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24949228</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LVE32/pseuds/LVE32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki and Y/N are dating; in secret, because they're worried they'll be separated if anyone finds out. But dating in secret means Y/N has to leave for her own apartment every evening, which neither of them is happy about. Should they come out and risk being separated? Or keep their love hidden and never be allowed to spend the night together?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Loki (Marvel)/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>240</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>CONTEXT:</p><p>Loki is a criminal (because of his attacks on new york) but also a hero (because of his help destroying the Tesseract) so, after his capture, no one really knew what to do with him. The conclusion was eventually reached that he would stay on Midgard, where his powers were weakened, and he could be under maximum security at all times. He now has lodgings in Stark tower where his brother could keep an eye on him when he's there and the whole of SHIELD could keep an eye on him when he's not.</p><p>Y/N works for the Avengers. She isn't a superhero, she just runs errands and looks after the occupants.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Prologue:</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Loki would like to say that he has hated every second of living on Midgard, but that would be a lie.</p><p>Living on Asgard, he'd been under constant pressure to set an example, to lead, to abide by every meagre rule. He was endlessly bombarded with meetings that droned on for days, invasions from neighbouring planets, civil wars on his <em>own</em> planet. Not to mention the fact that he'd had to do all this whilst living in the ever-present shadow of his older brother, Thor. This, and everything else, had given him a permanently gaunt appearance, a lanky figure, and---compared to everyone else---a slightly weedy appearance.</p><p>On Midgard, though, he didn't have to do...anything. He could curl up on a comfy sofa with a book; a real sofa, not one made of solid gold and so encrusted with jewels it would leave imprints of rubies on your skin if you use the armrests. He could take a shower and use the wonderful potions whole Midgardian industries were built on called 'toiletries'. He had even started to like Midgardian food, which he had called 'vile' at first, but now praised for its diversity and flavour. A meal on Asgard---even in The Palace---meant choosing from a selection of root plants, or tough meat. He'd been on Earth only several months and still hadn't eaten the same dish twice.</p><p>The result of his vastly improved lifestyle meant his physical appearance and health had enhanced to a considerable degree. Even traces of his enslavement by Thanos (an experience he'd rather not think about) had been erased. Worry lines that had previously creased his forehead vanished. His hair was no longer an oily tangle, messed by his fingers running through it every ten minutes. His bones are no longer defined bumps pushing against tissue-paper-pale skin.</p><p>He's still pale, but rather than ghostly grey, his complexion is a deep and rich porcelain white. He's bigger, his body filled out a little more, muscles replacing hollows, shoulders wider, arms thicker, his whole stature having shifted from boy to man in a few short weeks. He used to be the kind of person you wouldn't notice sneaking up on you, but now he's the kind of person you <em>feel</em> standing next to you before you see them. His presence is more solid, that of a confident, powerful individual, all sparkling eyes and formidable energy.</p><p>When he'd moved (well, <em>been</em> moved) into Stark Tower, it was difficult to remember that he was a god.</p><p>Now, it was difficult to forget.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter One:</strong>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"Sorry, I'm later than usual." Y/N nudged the door closed with a well-practised elbow, her hands being busy supporting the weight of several carrier bags. "I had a meeting."</p><p>Loki stood from the chair he'd been reading in with a smooth unfurling of limbs. His face had lightened with a grin upon the sound of Y/N's footfalls outside his lodging's door but fell into a moody scowl at her explanation of why she'd arrived over an hour past her usual visiting time. "One of those 'So-What's-The-Prisoner-Been-Up-To-Recently?' meetings? Did you tell them I've been a good boy? That I eat all my vegetables and I always remember to brush my teeth?"</p><p>Y/N started unloading the groceries she'd brought, handing them to Loki so he could put them in their correct places. That was <em>her</em> job, technically. She'd been hired as a housekeeper, of sorts---to change his bedsheets, buy his food, do his hoovering, however, he seems to prefer to do all that himself. Maybe because he knows her <em>real</em> purpose is to keep an eye on him; shop for him so he doesn't buy anything he shouldn't (weapons, ingredients to make a bomb); clean for him so he doesn't stash things he shouldn't (those weapons or ingredients to make a bomb), etcetera. Maybe he just prefers to be in control of whatever small parts of his life he can grab. He is, after all, being held here against his will. Choosing what shelf he stores his Oreos on is probably one of the few reservoirs of pride left for him.</p><p>Electing to ignore his (admittedly justified) contempt: "They don't ask about that sort of stuff." Her cheeks coloured slightly as she admitted, quietly: "Well, Thor does. But the main point of those meetings is to make sure you're, you know...happy"</p><p>Loki put the last of the shopping in the fridge, glad it was out of the way because now he could take its place in Y/N's arms. His lips tugged into his trademark smirk, all irritation washed away with Y/N's touch like sandy footprints under a wave. "And what did you tell them?"</p><p>Y/N took his hips as soon as he'd come close enough to do so, hooking her fingers with the belt loops of his black jeans. It had taken a lot of persuasion to get Loki, Prince Of Asgard, out of the blood-stained armour he'd arrived in and into casual wear but, man, it had been worth it. Not only had he grown to love them, he also looked staggeringly, breathtakingly gorgeous.</p><p>Y/N remembered the day she brought Loki a pair of Levi's and he had taken them to his room to try on, holding them at arm's length like they might infect him with some kind of disease. He'd emerged moments later, frowning like a petulant child, but also looking like a sinfully attractive man. Y/N had only been working at Stark Tower for a day---her first assignment actually being to fetch the god some decent clothes to change into---and she was already regretting sending in her resume. How was she supposed to remain professional when the man she was charged to wait on was possibly the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen? Surely every day would be a struggle.</p><p>Luckily, she hadn't needed to stay professional for long; a friendship had quickly blossomed between the two, and now here they were; embracing in Loki's little kitchenette, the smile returning to Loki's lips as he kissed the top of Y/N's head fondly.</p><p>"I told them you're content."</p><p>Encompassing her body in his long, strong arms, and saying wearily: "Did you tell them <em>why</em> I'm content?"</p><p>"No. Should I have done?"</p><p>Y/N had been doing that every now and again, recently; bringing up the idea of making their relationship public. Not pushing him to, not at all, just gently nudging, because it was getting harder and harder for her to resist him. And she <em>had</em> to resist him. She has to check out of work at seven at the latest, then back in again at ten the next morning. If she stayed the night at Stark Tower, people would know. And every time they got close to...doing anything during her shift, Loki would stop all of a sudden and backtrack so fast it made Y/N wonder if he'd even been touching her at all, or if she'd dreamed it.</p><p>Like yesterday evening. They'd been curled up on the sofa together, the television mumbling to itself half-heartedly. Y/N had kissed a patch of bare skin at Loki's long, delicate, pale neck, and he'd answered by playfully pushing her down onto her back and settling between her legs. All joshing had dissolved, then, as he saw her spread out below him, and he'd kissed her, deeply, so deep his tongue lightly brushed her soul, sending a ripple of longing through her every nerve. She'd moaned her desire onto his lips and he'd pulled away, breaking the spell, the space between them like a bucket of ice water, dousing the flame he'd lit.</p><p>Y/N noticed his muscles tense and pulled away enough to cup his face gently. His jawline fitted perfectly into her palm and she couldn't help wondering what other parts of them seemed to be made specifically for each other. "We don't have to tell them about us, you know. Not ever, if you don't want to."</p><p>Loki shook his head. "No, I want to tell them. I want you to spend the night here more than you can possibly imagine." He turned his head enough to kiss her wrist, pausing to feel her heartbeat flurry against his lips, imagining the feel of that beat against his bare chest. "It's just...so risky."</p><p>"I don't care about getting fired, Loki, you know that. I can find other jobs, especially after working at Stark Tower, other employers would be itching to take me on, recommendation or not."</p><p>"It's not just that, though, is it? Once we've told everyone we'll then have to try to find a way to make them let me keep seeing you," Loki muttered damply. Beside Y/N possibly losing her job, there was also the very real and raw fact of the matter that The Avengers might not let them keep dating to deal with. Loki is still perceived as a threat, despite being officially pardoned, so, in his mind, it made perfect sense for Tony and Thor and the rest of them to do anything in their power to keep members of the public---thus, Y/N---out of his reach. <em>'If they wanted me to keep my hands off the people of the public' </em>Loki thought to himself, <em>'they shouldn't have sent such an irresistible one to visit me every day'. </em>He'd be mad at them if he wasn't so unimaginably grateful for bringing Y/N into his life. Upon his arrival, he'd stood in the centre of his new apartment, wondering how in the actual Hell he was going to survive cooped up in such a small space, stuck on a such a slow little planet. But then someone had knocked on his door, announcing themselves as housekeeping. He'd let her in, taken one look at her face, and everything about his new living arrangements had suddenly become much more appealing. </p><p>Within a week he was in love.</p><p>Y/N's hand at his jaw moved up slowly to the crown of his head, her fingers anchoring themselves in his raven-feather hair. "You know...I don't have to spend the night here to...spend the night here."</p><p>Loki's eyes slipped closed at her touch, the roots of his hair always having been a particularly sensitive part of him. Especially when it was Y/N touching him; anywhere Y/N touched suddenly became a sensitive part of him. "I'd like you to, though, Y/N, for the first time. The first time I take you I want it to be properly. I want to lay you down on my bed, the moon reflecting off our bare skin." He kissed her lips, this time, teasingly gently, making her wish they were doing exactly that right that second. "I want to be able to sleep afterwards, my body curled around yours until morning. I don't want it to be rushed; our minds distracted by a deadline, our hearts beating quickly not with lust but with the adrenaline of a time limit. I want us to be able to take all night if we want to."</p><p>He kissed her again, tall frame stooped, broad back shielding her like a pair of protective angel wings. Y/N tried not to think about it, the firmness of him against her, waking up with him, spending the <em>night</em> with him, because she needed her voice to sound level and confident when she said:</p><p>"I think we can find a way. We're not children, you're a man, I'm a woman---"</p><p>"Yeah, you are," Loki teased through a coy smirk, catching the lobe of her ear in his perfect teeth.</p><p>Y/N powered on, despite her knees having suddenly turned to water. "We're <em>adults</em>, is what I'm saying. Just because they have superpowers, or whatever, that doesn't mean get to decide who we date. I think...I think we should tell them. Tonight. At dinner."</p><p>Rather coincidently, starting at around the same time Loki became a permanent resident, every two weeks The Avengers meet at Stark Tower for a meal, of which everyone is invited, the staff, Loki, anyone who works for or with Tony Stark can take a seat at his table and enjoy a free meal. He---Tony---says the dinners are to boost morale; to show his employees what a great boss he is, and such. He says Loki's invitation was down to him not wanting Loki to feel left out---an act of politeness---but Loki knew what it really was; just another of the glaringly obvious ways the Avengers try to monitor him. It wasn't enough that they made the staff attend meetings to snitch on his every move, they also had the audacity to dress an inquisition up as a friendly dinner invite.</p><p>Leaving no trace of his previously aroused state, Loki pulled away. "Surely there isn't one of those tonight, we just had one!"</p><p>"That was two weeks ago."</p><p>Loki cursed under his breath. Time really did fly when you're in love.</p><p>Why was that so amusing, Y/N wondered to herself, trying to hide the fact that it had made heat rise to the back of her neck. There's something strangely arousing about posh, pretty men using bad words, especially the way Loki uses them. She shook her head to clear it, realising she hadn't said anything for at least a minute, not that Loki noticed. He was too busy looking irritated.</p><p>"I hate those meals. They're just awkward. And everyone in that room---besides you, of course, my darling---is a total idiot."</p><p>That was amusing too, Y/N thought. How Loki's tone switched so quickly from harsh flicks of the tongue when talking about his captors, to soothing silken syllables in regards to his lover (well, almost lover. She would be his lover if the meal goes well). What a wonderful feeling it was to be loved by someone who hates everyone.</p><p>"Can't they just invite me to one of those little meetings you get asked to go to? Sit me at a desk, ask outright if I'm plotting anything, then send me on my way? Why do they have to put on this charade? Acting like I'm a guest at their hotel?" He ran his fingers over his head and gravitated to the sofa, flopping onto it. His tone had dropped from angry to dejected, now, and Y/N couldn't help but feel sorry for him when he mumbled:</p><p>"It's humiliating."</p><p>Coming over to where he sat, Y/N took a seat next to him on the settee. Like the rest of the apartment, it was excessively modern; every item of furniture sleek and practical, all spindly legs and flowing curves. Personally, Y/N thought it a bit uninviting for her taste, the lack of personal belongings and abundance of shiny surfaces giving it a rather cold appearance. Loki, however, regularly comments on how 'plush' everything is, which makes Y/N wonder about the living conditions he'd been used to. You'd think a palace would be the height of comfort, but the way he talks of it gives the impression that it's all long hallways, lumbar-support-less chairs, and bedsheets so silky you slide right out the other side as soon as you get into them.</p><p>"I know. But we have a real reason to go, this time. Just imagine if we tell everyone tonight. About us. Then there can finally <em>be</em> an us. I won't have to leave at seven in the evening---I wouldn't have to even leave the next morning, or at all." Y/N tucked a lock of Loki's hair behind his ear and he gave her a tired smile.</p><p>"I'd like that very much. You know I would. But do you really think we'll be allowed to keep seeing each other? Honestly? They'll probably kick you out for having a relationship with a client, and never let you back in. And it's not like I can leave. Not often, not without being supervised like a dog on a lead. They wouldn't let me get within six feet of you."</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>. . .</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Besides the prospect of having to later dine with a group of people that he didn't get along with, to say the least, Loki had a nice day. Although he would argue that every day spent in Y/N's company is nice, he liked this day in particular. Y/N had picked up a few extra things when she'd gone shopping; the ingredients for pizza, and some books she thought he'd like.</p><p>They made the pizza at lunchtime, and Loki, despite never having prepared his own meal during almost a thousand years on Asgard, turned out to be a worthy chef. When Y/N and Loki had first met, one of the first activities they did together was make Loki a fried breakfast. It hadn't been Tony Stark's intention for Y/N to cook for Loki when he'd hired her, but it had quickly become apparent that she would probably have to because Loki had been---to say the least---useless. Y/N didn't mind the added workload, though; she'd be cooking for herself back home anyway. And it was nicer eating with Loki than alone.</p><p>Their little cooking sessions were fun. At first, Loki hadn't paid any attention to Y/N working away in the little kitchenette. She'd asked what he wanted to eat, and he'd said 'whatever you recommend', boredly from an armchair, not even bothering to look up from his book. But then the sound of crackling bacon had filled the air, new and exciting smells pulling Loki from his novel, leading him to the kitchen where he began watching Y/N's movements curiously. He found the fact that she could crack an egg with one hand fascinating, and wanted to try, so Y/N showed him, directing his clumsy first attempt with patience and understanding. He liked this even more than the fact that he was learning new skills, so asked if there was anything else he could have a go at. Before Y/N knew what had happened, she was running a one-to-one cookery class for the youngest prince of an alien planet.</p><p>Because Loki lacked basically all knowledge on what it means to 'dice' something, or how to 'knead' dough, Y/N bestowed the role of understanding the recipes upon herself and focused Loki on carrying out her instructions. His gentle, nimble hands made light work of slicing vegetables, and his endless strength meant aching arms weren't an issue when prolonged mixing was required. His fascination with new tastes and lack of experience with earthly foods meant everything was interesting. They made popcorn one day, just by sticking a bag of it in the microwave, and he thought it was the most delightful thing he'd ever seen.</p><p>After lunch Y/N set to work stuffing Loki's laundry in the washing machine, unloading the dishwasher, hoovering, etcetera. Loki kept trying to help, the idea of him just sitting there reading a book while she did all the work clearly making him uncomfortable, and Y/N had to keep reminding that it was---literally---<em>her work. </em>"I'm paid to do this, Loki," she'd explained, snatching his bedsheets back from him as he made his seventh attempt to lend a hand. He'd answered by wrapping her in the bedsheet and jokingly threatening to stuff her into the washing machine with it if she didn't take a break and let him do at least one thing for himself.</p><p>"I need to learn how to take care of myself, Y/N," Loki said pleadingly as he placed her down on the sofa, still cocooned in his duvet cover. "It's not like I can just go back to Asgard one day and everything will go back to normal---not that I'd want it to. My days of being waited on are over, and I'm glad of it."</p><p>Y/N tried to wriggle free but her arms were pressed tight against her sides. "I know, but I get paid to do this. They'd fire me if it was discovered that I just come here to hang out, making the person I'm supposed to be doing all this for do it himself. How the <em>Hell</em> did you do this up so tight?"</p><p>"It won't be discovered. Just... please let me help. Not just for your sake but for mine too; I don't like feeling helpless."</p><p>Y/N stared at him for a long time, feeling herself wavering. "Fine. You can watch, but nothing more."</p><p>Loki perked up at this, snapping his fingers and the bedsheet suddenly fell away from Y/N's shoulders limply.</p><p>She pretended to scowl. "Hey! No magic, remember!" That had been one of their agreements. 'House Rules' Tony called them, handing Loki a pamphlet filled with all the things he could not do upon his arrival. Y/N had put them on the fridge---as instructed---with a magnet, but found it incredibly insulting to her new friend so she stuck another piece of paper over the top, which simply said in clear, bold letters:</p><p> </p><p>THINGS LOKI CAN NOT DO:</p><p>ANYTHING STUPID</p><p>MAGIC (BECAUSE IT MAKES ME JEALOUS)</p><p> </p><p>Most of the time he complied; he doesn't have much need for magic on Earth, he's found. In fact, he's broken the first rule considerably more times than the second. Like nearly using a fork to retrieve his toast from the toaster (which had resulted in a two-hour lesson from Y/N about electricity), or when he'd broken his first television by hurling a Nintendo Switch controller at it so hard it went through the screen and the following wall.</p><p>"That wasn't magic, it was..." He searched for the right word, a smirk tugging the corner of his lip at the expression on Y/N's face. "A coincidence."</p><p>Y/N struggled out of her prison and shoved it in the washing machine. "Of course it was." Hand outstretched to set the machine to 'cottons', Y/N suddenly caught sight of her watch. "Wow, it's half five already? That stupid meal thing is in, like, twenty-five minutes. You were supposed to be keeping an eye on the time!"</p><p>Loki shrugged. "I hoped that you wouldn't notice, and by the time you did it would be too late to go. Hey! What are you doing?" He stumbled along as Y/N had come up behind him, nudging him towards the bathroom.</p><p>"We need to be leaving soon. Go shower, or whatever it is you do in there that takes three hundred years." Once he was inside, Y/N shut the door on him before he could escape; although she knew he could. She heard him huff from the other side.</p><p>"It's called making yourself look presentable, Y/N---"</p><p>"It's called unnecessary, Loki." Teasing him, now, "Why do you like to get all dressed up for these things anyway? You want to look all nice for Tony and Steve and---"</p><p>Y/N had been leaning against the bathroom door and nearly fell backwards as it opened suddenly. She managed to right herself, and turned around to glare at the man responsible, but was soon distracted by the fact that he was standing there, shirtless, staring down at her like he was going to eat her. Y/N kept her eyes fixed on his, not daring to let her gaze drop down to his perfectly sculpted torso because she knew that if she did they wouldn't get to the dinner at all. Or anywhere for the next three days.</p><p>"I don't give a single hair from Odin's beard what Rusty, Popsicle---and whatever the other ones are---think of me." He cupped her chin with one long, slender finger, tipping her head up higher to emphasise his appealing height, the power he holds. He knows what he's doing. "It's you I get all dressed up for."</p><p>With great difficulty, yet a surprising amount of conviction, Y/N raised an eyebrow. "This---by any chance---isn't another attempt to get out of the meal, is it? Because you know what we'd do if we stayed her; your plans for our first time being meaningful and romantic would be out the window. Do you want that? The first time we sleep together to be because you want to get out of a less appealing arrangement?"</p><p>Sighing, Loki dropped his wolfish smoulder and swapped it for bored defeat. "Fine! Please get me something else to wear from my room. We'll go. But let the records show that I don't want to."</p><p>"I'm not keeping a record."</p><p>He disappeared back into the bathroom. "Well if you were I would want my contempt noted."</p><p>"God knows, Loki, that your contempt is noted." Muttering as she walked to his room to fetch the clothes he'd requested, "Drama queen."</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Loki emerged from the bathroom two minutes before they were expected at the table, looking very clean, and very moody. He perked up a bit when he saw Y/N, though, waiting for him by the door. She’d changed into the clothes she’d brought with her; Y/N also didn’t care about impressing the Avengers, or the rest of the staff at Stark Tower. She dressed this way to impress Loki, because these meals were...well, frankly, the only kind of date they’d ever got to go on. It was no secret that Y/N and Loki had become friends, and everyone was okay with that; after all, Y/N was paid to spend a lot of time with him; it would be a little awkward if they didn’t get along. However, people would probably start to talk if they requested to leave the tower to visit a nice restaurant. And even if their request was granted, they’d have Tony’s people follow their every move. Or, in an over-protective-dad kind of way, he might even ask Thor to accompany them because it would be ‘fun’ and ‘nice for Loki to spend some time with his brother’.</p><p>So, yes. These biweekly little staff-get-togethers were the closest thing to a night out Y/N could hope to get with Loki. At least until everyone knew they were dating, then maybe they would be given some leeway. Or separated forever. Either way, Y/N was going to make the most of whatever she could get, even if all she could get was a dinner with her boss and fellow employees.</p><p>“You’re looking even more radiant than usual,” Loki said, sparkling eyes sweeping up and down Y/N’s form shamelessly.</p><p>She cocked an eyebrow---Y/N felt like her eyebrows spent most of their time floating around the top of her forehead when she’s around Loki. “Is that another half-baked attempt at getting me to stay here?” To her surprise, Loki’s handsome face softened into what could only be described as a hurt expression.</p><p>“No, I was being serious. Do you really think so little of me?”</p><p>Y/N shook her head. “No, I think that highly of you. You’re intelligent enough to mould circumstances to your liking.”</p><p>The slightest hint of a smug smile twitched Loki’s narrow lips and Y/N added, quickly:</p><p>“Not that I want to feed your ego or anything.”</p><p>His answering grin made it difficult for Y/N to look directly at him, all perfect white teeth and twinkling eyes. She almost had to squint at him as if she was staring at a particularly bright moon. </p><p>He’d gotten closer without her noticing his approach, moving in that swift, soundless way he seemed to be able to do so easily. “Too late, Y/N. You have fed it and it is content and happy.” He dipped his head low enough to hover over Y/N’s mouth, tauntingly close and she, of course, tilted her own face up enough to capture his. </p><p>She could feel the proud curl of his lips at the effect he so obviously has on her. And he <em>does</em> have an effect on her. She clasped her hands into tight unmoving fists clamped to her sides so she didn't give in to her desires and twist her fingers into his freshly-styled hair.</p><p>Loki was the one to break the kiss, remembering that human’s need to breathe at far more regular intervals than he was currently allowing, and pulled away, gazing down at Y/N’s flushed expression</p><p>“Shall we get this dinner over with?”</p><p> </p><p>…</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Here is a random fact: Upon later reflection, Y/N would realise that her and Loki’s first night together was the result of one of them saying ‘kumquat’.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>…</p><p> </p><p>Navigating Stark Tower is a task that no one has really mastered yet and that is because it is, for lack of a better word, huge. And empty. And more stylish than the Burj Al Arab Hotel, all clean, slick surfaces and stainless steel railings. Every corridor looks the same, and, since it's a private residence not one of New York's many attractions, there are no helpful signs.</p><p>Sometimes this is useful; the meandering hallways are spacious and seem to somehow go on and on and on; perfect for stretching your legs if you're someone who is forbidden from setting foot outside (without being heavily guarded, anyway). Loki once set about with the intent of exploring the entire building but gave up when, after an hour, he realised he'd still be walking until the last syllable of recorded time. At least, it seemed like that.</p><p>At times like this, though---when you have an important arrangement to get to---infinite hallways are more of a hindrance. Y/N saw it as a hindrance, especially when they took a wrong turning for the third time. She was very much coming to the end of her tether.</p><p>Loki, however, was feeling very content at the fact that every minute that passed is a minute he didn't have to spend awkwardly nibbling on breadsticks while a group of people he'd tried to murder pretend not to cast suspicious glances in his direction. </p><p>He sidled along next to Y/N, one of his nimble strides for every two of her hurried ones, watching with amusement as her expression hardened from mildly irritated to the edge of exasperation.</p><p>"I mean, who designed a corridor that loops <em>back around</em> on itself?" She asked no one, a little out of breath from climbing a set of stairs whilst heatedly ranting at the same time.</p><p>Loki could have sworn they'd been up those stairs about seven minutes ago but he was scared to say anything in case Y/N threw him down them.</p><p>Not that she'd do that.</p><p>He didn't think.</p><p>"Someone with too much money?" He offered, nonchalantly letting his gaze slide over the LED lights running at even intervals along the ceiling. They're always on, even if no one is around, he'd noticed. If this place didn't have windows he'd never be able to tell if it was day or night. Not that it made much difference.</p><p>Y/N just made a one-syllable noise in her throat.</p><p>"You work here, surely you've memorised a bit of the layout by now?"</p><p>They turned another corner, the city twinkling teasingly at them from below. Things are simpler down there. Y/N suddenly wished they could just go to a takeaway joint.</p><p>"I never need to go up here, everything I use is in your flat. Or one of the rooms next to it. I just get in the lift and walk as the crow flies to your apartment."</p><p>Loki nearly grunted at her calling the comfy little prison he was forced to reside in an 'apartment', but decided against it. Their current situation sucked and she knew it, there's no use in pointing it out. Instead, he said:</p><p>"I don't understand why Tony keeps moving the location. The room we were in last time was fine."</p><p>This had been a good thing to say. It reminded Y/N that Tony was the one in the wrong for making things needlessly complicated, not her for getting lost in the building she's worked at for months.</p><p>"That's what I thought! Who needs that many dining rooms anyway?"</p><p> </p><p>…</p><p> </p><p>Eventually, they found the right room, quite accidentally. Y/N had heard the muffled hum of conversation and followed it to a sleek wooden door. </p><p>Loki had actually heard the talking long before Y/N, but hadn't said anything because he didn't want to rush anything along. He'd rather spend the entire night going up and down needlessly long corridors if it meant he didn't have to go to dinner. He'd actually been enjoying their little walk, and the conversation that went with it. It had started off as a gentle bashing of Tony Stark and his extravagant displays of wealth but had since evolved into a full-on roast of every Avenger there had ever been.</p><p>Y/N hoped Stark Tower's surveillance cameras didn't have audio.</p><p>Everyone was already seated when Y/N and Loki tentatively entered the room, heads rising in unison to ogle the late arrivals. Y/N apologised on behalf of both of them, and Loki said nothing, just followed close at her heels to two vacant seats at the corner of the room.</p><p>Despite the size of the building, the staff list is considerably short. Due to lack of people, things rarely a get dirty so housekeeping is kept down to a necessarily practical number. Security is probably the largest department, although their job mainly involves sitting in a room somewhere and watching hundreds of television screens for possible intruders. The only reason Tony hadn't replaced them with laser-activated automatic machine guns is the fact that that's illegal.</p><p>The dining table stretched down the centre of the room, one long expanse of wood so expensive most of Tony's guests avoided touching it in fear of damaging it and having to sell their house to buy a replacement.</p><p>"Find your way okay?"</p><p>The voice startled Y/N, the room having fallen into a pregnant silence upon their arrival, and Y/N had to scan the rows of sort-of-familiar faces to identify who'd spoken. Eventually, she reached the conclusion it had been Steve Rogers because he was watching her kindly. Y/N guessed the look was a kind one. He's not the most expressive person on the planet. None of them are, now that she thought about it.</p><p>"We got a bit lost, but got there in the end," Y/N answered lightly. Despite the jokes she'd made with Loki while they'd attempted to navigate the endless corridors, she really had no reason to dislike Steve. Not yet, anyway. And she may never have a reason, if he reacts well to the news that they're dating. </p><p>When they eventually tell him. </p><p>One day. </p><p>The meal, as usual, was a sort of buffet, bowls and plates of things spread along the centre of the table for the guests to pass back and forth and pick from as they pleased. Food has become on of Loki's few pleasures, the diversity of tastes the only kind of variety he has access to, but he wasn't loading his plate with the usual excitement he displays when he cooks with Y/N.</p><p>Y/N didn't know if this made her feel touched or concerned for him, so she dealt with her turmoil by handing him a bowl of mashed potatoes. She doesn't know if gods have to consume more calories than humans because they're more powerful, or less because---well, because of the same reason. Either way, he appears to be much healthier now that he eats three slightly processed square meals a day than when he'd arrived, so Y/N assumed it must be doing some good. </p><p>He accepted it wordlessly and spooned some of the fluffiness onto his plate, probably just so he looked like he's doing something. That's his technique for getting through these things, and he's become rather good at it; keep your head low, say nothing, get it over with. And, for the purpose of his wounded dignity, most of all, pretend you have no idea that this whole thing was designed as a way to keep an eye on you.</p><p>"Yeah, I think I was drunk when I designed these last few floors," Tony laughed and so did his guests, although Y/N couldn't tell whether they'd done so because they found his remark funny or because he's the boss and you <em>always </em>laugh at the boss's jokes. If you want a promotion you do, anyway.</p><p>If it even <em>was</em> a joke. Loki and Y/N exchanged a look. They thought it probably wasn't.</p><p> </p><p>…</p><p> </p><p>The meal went smoothly, which you'd think odd, considering the fact that a percentage of the table's occupants had, at several separate times in their lives, fought with aliens. And, of course, one of them actually <em>was</em> an alien. Just one of them. Loki had scanned the rows of faces for his blonde brother and sighed internally when he failed to find him. Of course <em>he</em> gets out of these meals. He's probably busy, off somewhere doing literally anything else.</p><p>Lucky bastard.</p><p>Tony led the usual stream of carefully measured questions, this being his tower, and all. The others barely cut in; because they didn't need to. The past two weeks had been painfully uneventful, as were Loki's answers:</p><p>
  <em>'No, I haven't left New York.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Yes, I have left the apartment.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Seen times, five for a walk and two for ice cream.'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Yes, I am aware there's ice cream here.'</em>
</p><p>Next, Tony directed his inquisition on the staff, trying to disguise it as a friendly chat about their work. Loki had to give Tony that; at least he was trying. He had to first think of what he wanted to know, then manipulate it, shuffle words around like a Rubik's cube in his head so it didn't sound so obvious. For example, when he turned to his chief of security, a <em>quintessential</em> chief of security, bushy moustache and all, instead of 'Did you let Loki leave the tower alone?' he asked: 'So, what ice cream place did you go to? I heard that the new one a couple of blocks away is awesome.' </p><p>Smooth, Tony. Real smooth. </p><p>When The Avengers had all the information they needed and were satisfied that their prisoner was well and truly imprisoned, little clusters of conversation began cropping up like mushrooms on a damp log. Tony and Bruce broke off to discuss their non-superhero side of work, Clint and Nat conversed about some children Y/N assumed were Clint’s, and a farm (that apparently he’d either been to or owned, it wasn’t clear), and the staff---you get the picture. Y/N and Loki could finally begin an exchange of words of their own, although Y/N didn’t feel Loki was properly utilising that opportunity because the first thing he muttered was:</p><p>“I’m bored.”</p><p>Out of habit, Y/N glanced up at the hosts of the meal, checking they hadn’t heard, although, of course they hadn’t. They’re a safe distance away, Y/N had made sure of that when choosing their seats. “We could play a word game?” That was a feeble attempt at entertainment, and she knew it. It felt like <em>every</em> <em>passing</em> <em>second</em> they were trying to amuse themselves with word games; there was so little else to do around here (well, this is New York City, there are infinite things to do, but Loki isn’t <em>allowed</em> to do any of them). Yesterday they’d spent an embarrassing amount of time playing ‘Film Double Bills’; where you have to mush two movie titles together to make a more exciting sounding movie title.</p><p> </p><p>For all that were curious, some of their favourites were:</p><p>
  <em>What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Twelve Monkeys</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? Fight Club</em>
</p><p>
  <em>O Brother, Where Art Thou? Knotting Hill</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Batman</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>The day before that was ‘Poems Made From Book Titles’. They’d scrolled through Google Play Books and come up with:</p><p>
  <em>Bring Me Back</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Riviera Express.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Just After Sunset</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Girl On The Train Silenced</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Christopher Mouse</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>And:</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Fly By Night,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Oliver Twist.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cross Wuthering Heights.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Find Me A Convenient Wife</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Y/N was almost sick of words by this point, and she’d assumed Loki was too, so it surprised her when he said, sounding interested:</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>Then his interest made sense as he added: “But I get to pick the game.” The corner of his lip was curling into that trademark smirk and Y/N had to fight off the urge to elbow him lightly in the ribs. He should be careful, pulling mischievous expressions like that. People might think he’s up to something. Although, knowing Loki, he probably is. Or he <em>isn’t</em>, but wants people to <em>think</em> he is, just to pass the time.</p><p>“Fine. What do you want to play?”</p><p>He already had a game in mind, Y/N knew it. She could see it glinting at her behind his eyes. And, judging by the way he still hasn’t stopped smiling, it's probably not an appropriate game to play amongst everyone Y/N works with.</p><p>Loki neatly sliced a sprig of broccoli in half. “Let's play Words That Sound Dirty But Aren’t.”</p><p>Of <em>course</em> it wasn’t appropriate.</p><p>“Like…” He gave her a sideways grin. “...Blowfish.”</p><p>Y/N pressed her lips into a tight line to stop herself laughing water all over the table. She swallowed, darting hurried glances to make sure none of the other table guests could hear her say: “Um, okay...Cummings. You know; the surname.”</p><p>Loki nodded his head. “Hm...Good. Not great, though...Defenestrate.” He thought for a second. Or pretended to think. There’s often little distinction. “...Masticate.”</p><p>His smirk had subsided to a cool, picturesque example of serenity. How is he keeping a straight face? The fact that he wasn't laughing somehow made everything funnier by tenfold and he knew it because he keeps surveying Y/N’s expression, revelling in her laughter or simply the fact that she could embarrass herself at any moment. “Frock.”</p><p>“You always do this,” Y/N huffed, although, due to residual giggles it lacked effect. “You always save up a bunch and <em>then</em> announce what the game is. Uvula.”</p><p>Aghast: “A classic. And I do no such thing!” But that smile is twisting the corner of his lip again. “Rectify.”</p><p>“Cunning.”</p><p>“Is that a compliment of <em>my</em> word or is it <em>your</em> word?”</p><p>“Both. Abreast. Manhole. Seamen.” Y/N went crimson, “Like the sailors---” she sputtered, giving another darting glance to check no one is listening in on their conversation (if you could even call it that). A mousy woman on the other side of the table and the ginger woman next to her were giving them questioning looks, but that was probably just because they wondered what Y/N and an alien were finding so funny.</p><p>Even Loki hadn’t been able to hold in a chuckle at ‘manhole’. “That’s quite the mouth you have on you, Y/N,” he mused aloud in that low silken voice and her blush deepened by several shades.</p><p>“They’re not actually dirty words, they just sound---”</p><p>“I know, I know.” He waved off her concerns, giving her a look every now and again that she could have sworn bordered on pride. Of course he’d be proud of her for that, of all things. “Waylaid.”</p><p>“Crick.”</p><p>“Juggernaut.”</p><p>“Flange.”</p><p>That made Loki choke on something, food or air, Y/N wasn’t sure. She was sort of shaking slightly from laughter, but, from his distance, Tony must have thought she was either crying or perhaps having a stroke because he asked:</p><p>“Everything okay down that end?” He sounded more curious than concerned, and Y/N somehow knew that somewhere in the back of his brain his hackles had raised.</p><p>Y/N stuttered a feeble ‘everything’s fine’, and busied herself with her meal. In an attempt to look busy, she’d added much more relish than she’d intended. She grimaced through the taste, feeling Tony’s eyes on the side of her face for several seconds before he, hesitantly, resumed his own conversation.</p><p>Y/N mentally marked that as Strike One. She didn’t know how many strikes they’d have before someone got angry or suspicious or something else happened, but she doubted it would be a large number. </p><p>Something else did happen and it was worse than someone getting suspicious or angry at their childish giggling. </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry this chapter was a little shorter, it just seemed like a good, suspenseful place to stop. Stay tuned for part 3 :-)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>"Crabapples."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That one had confused Loki more than anything else, his lips twitching into another smile. I'm not saying he was imagining a mutant-crab-crossed-with-an-apple hybrid but I'm not saying he wasn't either. "What's a crabapple?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A plant. They grow fruit that's like normal apples but more sour."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll take your word for it. Cockles."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Cockchafer."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki narrowed his eyes at Y/N in disbelief. "You're just making them up now."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I swear I'm not, it's a type of beetle. In Europe."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sextant."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, yes, very good, how did I miss that one? Kumquat."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This made Loki cough a rather undignified laugh and he dipped his head, trying to hide it behind his hair that had come untucked from his ears. When he'd righted himself (as much as he could, whilst having a trachea full of vegetables) he asked: "And that is?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N was finding the shade of pink his face had gone rather amusing. "It's another fruit. Kind of like an orange."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, is it, now? I was going to say, 'I'll make you kumquat later'."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This made them both explode with laughter, it having built up and built up until their stiff lips couldn't contain it any longer. By this time, several more people had joined the mousy and ginger woman in watching Y/N and Loki's not-very-well stifled snickering, and with Loki's reaction to 'kumquat', the entire table turned in unison to raise an eyebrow at them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N and Loki had been so distracted they hadn't even noticed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N was right when she'd guessed they'd only have a piteously small amount of strikes before something happens. She'd </span>
  <em>
    <span>also</span>
  </em>
  <span> been right in guessing that what did happen was Not Good.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The silence that followed Y/N and Loki's realisation that they had an audience was full and heavy and uncomfortably hot. Their giggles didn't stop abruptly; somehow even humiliated shock isn't even enough to dampen their good mood. No, they continued for a stupid amount of time, trickling to a slow, painful stop under the scrutinising gaze of everyone in the room. Y/N had had to hold one hand up to the side of her face, blocking Loki from view, because, for some reason, every time she looked at him she felt a fresh peel of laughter bubbling up from her stomach. He was almost doing the same thing, staring with intense focus at his mashed potato as if hoping it would somehow tell him a sad story to wipe the smile from his face. The whole ordeal brought Y/N back to being at school when a friend across the room would be making silly faces and she'd be trying to hide her chuckling from the teacher. The only differences between that and her present scenario were the fact that the teachers in </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span> scenario were several super-humans who also happened to employ her. And her friend wasn't a fellow classmate, he was a prisoner. A prisoner and a god. And they hadn't been exchanging funny faces, they'd been making sexual jokes about a fruit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N wondered what had happened to her life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wasn't complaining, just...bemused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony took a while to say...well, anything, probably because he didn't know what </span>
  <em>
    <span>to</span>
  </em>
  <span> say. To say he was wildly unprepared for this situation would be an understatement. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he did finally speak it was with a hesitancy and a bitter edge. Like a father who'd just discovered his daughter was dating the local Bad Boy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In a way, that was </span>
  <em>
    <span>almost</span>
  </em>
  <span> what had happened. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do either of you two want to explain to me what is going on?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was strange hearing him so serious. You'd think his lack of sarcasm would be a welcome change, but actually it was more unnerving than anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N cleared her throat, knowing something resembling fear would make her voice all wobbly if she didn't. It </span>
  <em>
    <span>still</span>
  </em>
  <span> sounded a little wobbly when she answered, as light-heartedly as she could: "We were playing a word game."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I didn't mean just now," the bitter edge was no longer just an edge, it was the entirety of his tone. "I mean between you two."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N dared a glance at Loki, now, the last dregs of humour completely evaporated. Her look meant 'What do I do?'.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was dull eyed and defeated, like a general who knew he was about to lose a war. He fractionally inclined his shoulders and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N found it interesting how his way of preparing for battle was to look as much like he didn't give a flying fuck as possible. He was good at it, too. Only Y/N could see the nervousness behind his eyes. She thought it was because she was sat right next to him but it wasn't. The truth is much more depressing; she's the only one in the room who cares enough to notice it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Earlier, she'd </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted</span>
  </em>
  <span> to break the news that her and Loki were together. That metaphorical cat had been in that metaphorical bag for too long, and as the days crawl by it's becoming harder and harder to resist the lanky Jotun she calls a boyfriend. Seeking around had been fun at first, their secret clutched close to their chests like smuggled treasure. But then that had stopped being fun. None of it was fun anymore. Not getting to spend the night with him wasn't fun. Not getting to go out for a walk by themselves, let alone a date wasn't fun. Having to pretend they're not together, as if Y/N should be ashamed to call Loki hers, wasn't---</span>
  <em>
    <span>isn't</span>
  </em>
  <span>---fun.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But being torn away from him would be even worse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Between us?" Y/N asked. She hoped it sounded like she had no idea what Tony was referring to. She hoped he hadn't picked up on the way she sort of stared at Loki when she doesn't think he's looking. Tracing his profile in her mind, watching the shadows shift about under his cheekbones, how his shiny hair seems to somehow absorb the light rather than reflect it. She hoped Tony hadn't noticed that Loki was the only person in this whole Godforsaken tower that she had any interest in talking to; despite several of them being literal heroes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, there's obviously something."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We're friends. My job </span>
  <em>
    <span>is</span>
  </em>
  <span> to, quote, </span>
  <em>
    <span>look after him</span>
  </em>
  <span>, isn't it? That's what it said in my contract."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steve Rogers answered before Tony could even open his mouth: "I think by </span>
  <em>
    <span>look after </span>
  </em>
  <span>he didn't mean </span>
  <em>
    <span>screw</span>
  </em>
  <span>." Now </span>
  <em>
    <span>he </span>
  </em>
  <span>sounded like Y/N's angry father. Somehting about the way he'd said it gave Y/N the impression he'd known about her and Loki this whole time and had just been waiting for proof. Or an opportunity resembling proof enough to pass it off as such. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe it was because he was a steroid-filled superhuman, but for some reason Steve being angry was a lot more terrifying than Tony being angry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And the way he'd said '</span>
  <em>
    <span>Screw'.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Several of the guest's mouths had fallen open to gape at Steve, then at Y/N and Loki, then back to Steve again. That word, that ugly, unexpectedly cheap word, hung heavy in the air between them. Y/N's jaw had hit the table too, her cheeks suffusing with an enraged red. Or maybe it was embarrassment. This conflict, the rush of reactions all trying to escape from her mouth at once, meant she just sat there, unable to say anything at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily, she didn't have to. "She's not </span>
  <em>
    <span>screwing </span>
  </em>
  <span>me," Loki shot back. That word had been like a snowball Steve had patted together and lobbed across the room. Shocking, yes. Cold, yes. But something about it kept it soft, his drawling American accent maybe? But the way Loki said it was as if he'd caught Steve's snowball, turned it to ice, carved it into a dagger thin as glass, and flung it back. His tongue had sculpted the 's' until it was sharp enough to split a hair, his clipped, regal tone restoring that tang of vulgarity.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone suddenly seemed to remember their manners, and promptly turned their faces back to their meals. Some people had cleaned their plate already, so several requests for seconds cropped up around the table as those people tried to look like they hadn't just been listening to a deeply personal conversation between their work colleagues.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki glared at them anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Any appetite they previously owned had fled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You certainly don't act like it," Tony said. If he was at all fazed by the way Loki's eyes had hardened, he didn't show it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N almost jumped as something took her hand under the table. It was Loki's, his cool slender fingers finding hers and slotting between them. A symbol, a message to her that whatever should happen next, she wouldn't have to go through it alone. That they are united as they step into the metaphorical storm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or his way of saying goodbye, before they're separated for ever.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We are in love, but we're not </span>
  <em>
    <span>screwing</span>
  </em>
  <span>---"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This is the first time Y/N had seen Loki properly angry. Even when he'd been brought into Stark Tower and had his very short list of rights read to him, only a muscle in his jaw had feathered, giving away his mild irritation. But now? Now that someone was defacing Y/N's honour---</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"---Because, unlike you, I actually have respect---"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If Y/N believed in signs from the universe, she would have counted the fact that Loki never got to finish that sentence as one of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yes, it would have been amusing to watch his silver tongue rip whatever Tony would have thrown back at him to shreds. And, deep down, every woman wants to watch her man get into a blind rage on her behalf at least once, no matter how much she insists she's a pacifist or a peace-maker or whatever. Loki in a blind rage would be...strangely arousing, seeing as Y/N knows for sure that she isn't on the receiving end of it. Tony might not come out of that ordeal alive, though, which would disintegrate any minuscule chance they had of being allowed to continue seeing each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So Loki needed to stop talking, that was a given (even though, granted, his point was both accurate, and heroic). He'd already crossed more lines than was good for him, and, judging by the colour Tony's ears had become, he was about to stride too-confidently over another one. That is why, when the doors were thrown open and a blonde man weilding a bloodied hammer strode in, you could probably call it some kind of blessing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blonde man is called Thor, and, for once, Loki was actually glad to see him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or would be, later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Apologies for my late arrival," Thor addressed the room, doing a stiff little bow; or the best one could do whilst in armour (in case you're wondering, his armour was bloody too). "I was in a battle with---" He stopped (walking and talking), probably having noticed he'd interrupted something, "---It doesn't matter. Heimdall said I should go and check on Loki." A smile turned the corner of his mouth upwards. "And now I see why." He turned to Tony, who had to lean backwards as to narrowly avoid his nose being sliced off with the axe Thor was holding like it was a bouquet of flowers. "You found out about Y/N and my brother?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a moment, Tony didn't say anything. Maybe because he was mentally thanking the stars for sparing him his nose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After several seconds of just opening and closing his mouth, he furrowed his eyebrows. "You knew?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I asked Heimdall to keep an eye on him," Thor replied nonchalantly, eyeing the table. He seemed to be scouring the empty plates for something to eat, his wide shoulders sagging in disappointment when he realised there was basically nothing left besides a few stale-ish rolls. He pulled out a chair and took one all the same, cutting it open roughly with someone else's knife to smear some butter around the inside. There were freckles of dried blood amongst the stubble of his blonde beard and Y/N was distracted from her own plight for a second by the intense hope that he doesn't accidentally consume any of that blood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony had risen to his feet at some point, in anger or to demonstrate his place as Man Of The House (well, tower. Not that he was there much). He was still standing, and looked down at Thor tucking into some bread, then at the rest of The Avengers as if to say 'what do I do now?'. To which they shrugged, equally puzzled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki was still holding Y/N's hand under the table. When Thor had burst into the room his grip had tightened, his palm's temperature---once hot with anger---dropping all of a sudden, as if he'd dipped it in a bucket of cold water. Y/N didn't know if Thor's arrival was a step in the right </span>
  <em>
    <span>or</span>
  </em>
  <span> wrong direction. On the one hand, he had the power to whisk Loki back to Asgard, or to some other far away place which would hold him with powerful magic, making his and Y/N's lives miserable. On the other hand, if he was going to do that, surely he would have done it by now?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So you know that your brother---a murderer, might I add---had been dating one of my employees?" Tony clarified to the top of Thor's head. It was bent to the table, his focus mainly on his bread. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She ran her tongue along the inside of her teeth to prevent it from saying:</span>
  <em>
    <span> 'Technically we're not dating, because you won't let us go on a date'.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Thor swallowed and took the nearest glass of water and drank from it until it was empty. Y/N guessed that water had belonged to one of the maids named Ivy, because she'd been sat near it and the rim of the cup was stained with a perfect print of her raspberry-coloured lipstick. "Thank you," Thor said to her as he put the glass down on the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ivy went the same pink as her mouth and tucked her hair behind her ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony was getting impatient, one of his fingers drumming on his bicep. He'd crossed his arms over his chest, the pale blue of his arc reactor peeping through the material of his tshirt. It's gentle, life-giving glow contrasted with his hardened facial features, his mouth set in a firm line. Everything about Tony is lines, Y/N realised, from his perfectly trimmed facial hair to the way he processed the world around him. She wished that for once he'd be lenient. She also wished all of her colleagues weren't here to witness the intimate details (and maybe collapse) of her relationship.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At last, Thor said: "Yes, for some time now. You have surprisingly good taste, Little Brother." Referring to Y/N.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or not. Seeing as, somehow, the one giving it appeared to be on their side, she decided to give him a greatful, yet tentative smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Still sticking with the colour green, though, I see." He used the knife he'd hacked at his bread with to gesture at Loki's shirt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki didn't say anything. Y/N could almost feel his body preparing itself for attack or flight or whatever might be necessary. She imagined it like a rocket ship going through pre-flight checklists, muscles tensing, adrenaline being released---or whatever the frost giant equivalent of adrenaline is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Should we go?" Someone asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Heads turned to see who'd spoken and found a woman who Y/N could have sworn was called Tanya---or maybe Tammi---standing up to get someone in charge's attention. You couldn't really tell she was standing up because she was actually taller with the added height of her chair gave her whilst sitting down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony visibly relaxed at the suggestion, probably not wanting to seem like he was kicking his guests out of a meal he invited them to, but glad that he had an excuse to do literally that. The guests filed out of the room in silence, then broke into conversation as soon as they (thought) they were out of earshot, the empty corridors not helping their attempts at discretion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Should we leave too?" Natasha asked, pushing her chair away from the table, but Tony waved her back into her place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, I want you all to stay so we can decide..." finding the right words were obviously a difficult task, "---how we proceed." He'd started pacing. "No one else seems bothered by this. Am I the only one that's bothered by this? Bruce, you haven't said anything recently, what's your take?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bruce blinked a few times like a student who'd been daydreaming when the teacher had asked him to answer a question. "...What do </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> think? I think, frankly, that I don't want to be a part of this."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Doesn't anyone want to know what </span>
  <em>
    <span>I </span>
  </em>
  <span>think?" Y/N asked suddenly. She couldn't hold it in any longer, the words loud and distant from the other end of the table. "You're all talking about me like I don't have a say in this---"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You </span>
  <em>
    <span>don't</span>
  </em>
  <span> have a say in this," Tony snapped, and Loki growled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thor had finished his roll, and the uneaten half of someone else's roll, and finally started paying attention to the room around him. His face fell a little at the realisation that Tony seemed genuinely distressed. He probably just saw this as another little...Loki-ism. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He dusted off his hands and leaned back in his chair. If one was available, Y/N knew for a fact that he would have used it. "Why doesn't she have a say in this? It's her life, afterall."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What do you think this is?" Tony sputtered, opening his arms wide, but there was nothing inviting about the gesture. "A hotel? Loki is here because of what he did to New York, and to Asgard---"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That wasn't his fault, though---" Y/N snapped, amazed at the untapped amount of confidence it appeared she had hidden away all this time. All it took to bring it out was someone disrespecting the one she loved.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Y/N's right," Thor nodded. "Mostly. And the point of him being here was to keep him out of trouble, not imprison him."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Even though that is what you're doing," Y/N cut in curtly, but was ignored. She wondered why Loki was just sitting there, not sticking up for himself, but the little smirk that curled his lip every time she did it </span>
  <em>
    <span>for</span>
  </em>
  <span> him gave her the answer. He was finding this all very amusing. If this </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be their last interaction, at least he got to see someone---Y/N---fight for his corner. No one had ever done that for him before, really.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Isn't the fact that you have to defend him like that maybe a sign that he might not be ideal dating material?" Tony addressed the room like a politician intent on smudging the reputations of his opposers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thor's eyebrows came together. "Y/N's a grown woman, let her decide that for herself."</span>
</p><p><span>Y/N sighed. Exasperated: "</span><em><span>Thank</span></em> <em><span>you</span></em><span>!" They're debating her love life like she's a rebellious teen and Loki is a party she wants to go to in a risky neighbourhood.</span></p><p>
  <span>Tony shook his head. "How do you know he's not just plotting something? Using you?" That question </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> aimed at Y/N, this time, so she had to give him credit for that. It was still horrifically insulting, though, both to her intelligence and Loki's---well, everything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gave his hand a squeeze that she hoped he'd interpret as comforting. </span>
  <em>
    <span>'I'm on your side.'</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't think he is plotting," Thor said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N would have shot him a glare at answering for her, had he not just won a point in their favour. The older brother's approval was always something you wanted. Although, Thor wasn't </span>
  <em>
    <span>Y</span>
  </em>
  <span>/</span>
  <em>
    <span>N's</span>
  </em>
  <span> older brother. Usually it's the brother that keeps no-good suitors away from his younger sister. Now, however, the brother of the no-good suitor is trying to persuade a room of superhumans that Y/N should be </span>
  <em>
    <span>allowed</span>
  </em>
  <span> to date the no-good suitor. He's either incredibly stupid, or the world's best wingman.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I've seen him plotting," Thor continued, "and it doesn't look like he is this time. The way Heimdall described it, I think he might actually---" He cast a quick look in Loki's direction, for once probably afraid to overstep some kind of bounds, "---genuinely like her."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I love her," Loki amended. He had one hand propping up his head, supporting his chin. Some of his slender fingers had been kind of covering his mouth, so his voice had been a little muffled, but everyone had heard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hadn't said it with any kind of tone. Just a flat, simple statement. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A fact. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p><span>Loki's voice seemed to have sliced everyone's strings of thought in two, because they spent several seconds finding the ends and knotting them back together again. Two things must have shocked them, the first being his words. Several bemused expressions were tossed around the group of 'heros' like a beachball over a crowd at a music festival. The </span><em><span>prisoner</span></em><span> Loki? The Loki who had wrought havoc on an entire population of people? </span><em><span>That</span></em><span> Loki was in </span><em><span>love</span></em><span>? Was he even able to feel such a thing? At least three of the Avengers had assumed he was just flat out incapable of </span><em><span>any</span></em> <em><span>kind</span></em><span> of positive emotion, let alone </span><em><span>love</span></em><span>.</span></p><p>
  <span>The second thing that had surprised everyone was the fact that he had spoken at all. So rarely does Loki acknowledge their existence in the first place, it's quite possible they'd all forgotten (or, for some, never heard) what his vocal chords even sound like when in use. He'd never so much as chatted idly about the weather, let alone spilled a drop of feeling or gifted them with his inner thoughts. And yet now here he was admitting that he's utterly besotted---to a room crowded with his enemies. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Some of them, anyway. No doubt he has many, many more. Knowing him, he's probably proud of that fact, too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki's previously silent disposition seemed to work in his favour. Seeing as the one time he spoke up was to claim affections for someone, one can only assume that his affections are an object in which he treats with the utmost seriousness. Y/N, and what he feels for her must be very important to him, if declaring his love for her to the room at large means breaking his vow of almost-silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His love or his </span>
  <em>
    <span>plans</span>
  </em>
  <span>. His plots. His schemes. The Avenger's expressions had softened with his confession, then slowly hardened like concrete as their previous doubts set back in after momentarily being washed away with a strange sort of admiration.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony, as usual, was the first person to find something to say. He'd turned back to Y/N and did so quietly:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Could we have a word with you outside for a minute, Y/N?" It was a question but definitely not an invitation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N flicked an apologetic glance at Loki. The idea of leaving him out of the loop---talking about him behind his back---made an uncomfortable heat begin to boil her blood, but Loki didn't seem to mind. With a sick feeling, Y/N realised that was because he was used to it; watching the world happen around him without playing an active part.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We won't be long," she tried; a feeble attempt at making him feel included, but he merely inclined his shoulders.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>'We won't be long' was a lie, not that Y/N had meant it to be. She'd tried very hard to prevent it from becoming one, but those Avengers didn't half go </span>
  <em>
    <span>on</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N could see their point, granted. Had she not known Loki as well as she does, and if she was in charge of keeping the entire planet safe, she too would have the same concerns. At first, she had fought for Loki's corner---well, </span>
  <em>
    <span>their</span>
  </em>
  <span> corner, now that they're an item. That thought alone gave her the strength required to hold her tongue in her mouth and her fists stiffly by her side. She knew a physical fight with Iron Man, Captain America, and the rest, was not one that she would win, but she'd have liked to give it a bloody good try.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She's not a complete idiot, though, so instead of socking Tony Stark in his bearded jaw Y/N stood and soaked up his verbal punches with self-controlled patience. He probably hadn't meant them to be 'verbal punches' but Y/N couldn't help seeing his jabs at her judgment, competence, and boyfriend as such. Several times Steve reached out a large hand to give Tony's arm a nudge, his voice low with warning as he said 'hey' or 'Tony' when he felt said man was going a little too far. If anything, Y/N found that more insulting, this group of people who have nothing really special about them besides gadgets and several lucky accidents (or unlucky, in Bruce's case) treating her like she's a petulant child. When it was Clint's go to lecture Y/N she couldn't help rolling her eyes so far back into her head she got a good look at her brain. At least Tony said what he thought. He'd been direct. The others were just patronising.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>God knows how long the conversation would have stretched on had it been less one-sided. If Y/N would have fought back, they'd probably still be in that hallway right now, her arms crossed, a horse-shoe of superheroes circling her like bullies cornering the nerdy kid at their locker.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The only one that said almost nothing was---for a change---Thor. He just leaned one heavy shoulder against the wall (something Y/N saw Tony wince at, probably imagining flakes of blood being pressed into his clean eggshell-white paint) and watched the conversation play out with stormy eyes. Despite the fact that he was no longer exactly </span>
  <em>
    <span>defending</span>
  </em>
  <span> Y/N and his brother's romance, he still wasn't trying to pick it apart either. Y/N kept dropping whoever was lecturing her's hard gaze long enough to glance in the Norse god's direction, trying to gauge his mood. Had he started to see The Avenger's point and switched teams? Or was he waiting for the right time to step in and lend a burly hand? Y/N thought it typical that the one time he chooses to be mysterious is the one time his relentless, bellowing rambles were most wanted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I just don't understand how you can trust him," Natasha was saying. She doesn't usually say very much, so she was one of the few people Y/N had listened to. Not her words, exactly, but the sound of her voice, because it was something to do to pass the time. Her voice was dark and soft but clipped. Like her hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N hadn't ever received this much attention from her employers. She doubted anyone working in or around Stark Tower had. Despite the circumstances, she was almost excited, in a juvenile, petty sort of way. Some people would </span>
  <em>
    <span>pay</span>
  </em>
  <span> to have a one-to-one conversation with the Avengers. Y/N was getting one for free. Turns out all you have to do to get some of the most famous people in the world to pay attention to you is date a supervillain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Bruce tried to make Y/N see 'reason' (emphasis on 'tried), Y/N turned that word over in her brain. 'Supervillain'. Because that was---technically---what Loki is. Even though Thanos was behind the attacks on New York not Loki. But Loki was the one trapped in a fancy apartment-prison with top-level security watching him more-or-less at all times. Y/N wondered if many minor crimes could stack up to be equivalent to one major crime. Like, if someone shoplifts thirty-thousand dollars worth of Mike And Ikes, is that equivalent to robbing a bank? Or if Loki had stabbed Thor three-thousand times in his life, would that be the equivalent of murder, seeing as Thor heals so fast it's more like a stingingnettle sting than a stab wound?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you even listening to me?" Tony clicked his fingers in front of Y/N's face. If Loki had been around to see it Tony would most certainly be dead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes," Y/N stated coolly. She was proud of how cool she was being. She bet that if she started disrespecting Pepper Potts, Tony wouldn't react with the same level-headedness that Y/N was currently displaying. Not that Y/N had anything negative to say about Pepper. Lovely woman.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony folded his arms. "You're not."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well how can she if you've been going on at her for half an hour?" Thor pointed out from the back of the group.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in. Thor was still on her side after all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I wouldn't have to keep going on at her if she just saw reason," Tony shot back with more heat than Thor had used.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This made his eyebrows pull together into an unmoving line.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony continued anyway, because he's that kind of person: "I just don't understand why you'd </span>
  <em>
    <span>want</span>
  </em>
  <span> to----you </span>
  <em>
    <span>can't</span>
  </em>
  <span> sleep with </span>
  <em>
    <span>Loki</span>
  </em>
  <span>, you just...can't." Finally, it seemed he had ran out of words. Y/N didn't even flinch at that very blatant reference to her and Loki's (actually non-existant) sex life. 'Sleep with' had been a low-blow attempt pretty much everyone in this spotless corridor had used at one point or another. To cheapen their relationship, or belittle Y/N to such a point that she just quits and leaves, she wasn't sure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why can't she?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All heads turned to Thor again---like he and Tony were in a very boring tennis match---as he pushed himself from the wall and came over to stand by Y/N. She appreciated the gesture but he was still very much caked in blood and sweat and dirt from battle, so she still kind of wished he'd remained where he was. Just as Tony had feared, he'd left a smudge of...something...on the pristine wall he'd been leaning on. Y/N hoped his debating skills were more fine-tuned than his hygiene.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What do you mean 'why can't she'?" Bruce asked as if someone had just inquired as to why Y/N can't use a lump of uranium as a nightlight. "He's a criminal, a mass murderer---"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>Thanos</span>
  </em>
  <span> is a mass murderer," Thor corrected, which made Y/N want to give him a no-contact high five. "He used Loki for the attacks on your world, we must remember who the real enemy is here."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That got ominous but Y/N decided not to look into it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bruce countered: "But Loki is a prisoner here for a </span>
  <em>
    <span>reason---</span>
  </em>
  <span>"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He's here because I don't trust him to be on Asgard. That has nothing to do with his ability to court a fine young woman." He gave Y/N a smile, his eyes a kind and sunny blue. She realised then that if she and Loki were somehow permitted to wed, Thor would become her brother in law. She'd be okay with that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony opened his mouth to say something else. Y/N was beginning to wonder if he even cared that much about her wellbeing or if he just didn't like the fact that someone was going directly against his wishes. He seemed like the kind of man who liked to have control, and to have people look up to him. And here he is, being embarrassed in front of his friends who all happen to have some kind of superpower.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thor stepped in before the words could leave Tony's mouth. "My brother may have his faults but he deserves to be happy. Mother always said he acted this way because he was a lonely child. Maybe this will be good for him."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"With all due respect," Bruce interjected, "we can't just send Y/N into his arms in the hope that she'll rehabilitate him---"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He doesn't </span>
  <em>
    <span>need</span>
  </em>
  <span> rehabilitating!" Y/N snapped before biting her tongue once again. Emotion-driven outcrys had been exactly what she had hoped to avoid. It just pained and confused her to hear them---anyone---speak of the man she loved in that way. They were talking as if he was some kind of rampant lunatic, as if these 'flaws' they spoke of were a tendency to commit arson and first degree murder. He had told Y/N of his crimes, every single one, listed them at the beginning of their friendship. He'd tried to drive her away at first, warning her of what she was getting into. He'd had this exact same conversation with her before their first kiss.</span>
</p><p><span>And she didn't care. He loves her. He treats her as if she is as delicate as the petals of a rose, and twice as beautiful. He makes her laugh, and tells her stories, and seeks her company without ever showing signs of tiring. He's clever and considerate and romantic and...her best friend. He may have done things in the past, and he may do more things in the future, but Y/N </span><em><span>doesn't</span></em> <em><span>care</span></em><span>. </span></p><p>
  <span>"Let Y/N date whomever she chooses." Thor's voice brought her back to the situation at hand. It had become tiring twenty minutes ago, not it was just annoying, the Avenger's words like flies that won't stop buzzing around your face. "What is it with your planet and dictating who someone may love?" Thor asked as if it personally saddened and confused him. Having grown up on Asgard, it probably had. Loki had told Y/N of how free the people there are in personal choices. Loki himself is bisexual and no one batted an eye, so the idea of needing a 'pride month' had bemused him greatly when Y/N explained the parades they'd seen from his window. He'd thought 'homophobia' was some kind of disease people got from public toilets. Plus, back home he is royalty. Was. Having a short man who frequently cosplays as a robot tell him who he can and can not love must be a strange experience, and just plain insulting, yet he's putting up with it. For Y/N. He probably could have busted out of this place as soon as Thor stopped keeping an eye on him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he hasn't.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This jab at his home planet made Tony blink. Maybe it shed some perspective in his otherwise closed off mind. Maybe it simply poked a hole in his pride, so he became lenient in the hope that a good deed would fill it again. Either way, for whatever reason, he ran a hand through the back of his hair, the gelled strands standing up in prickly little spikes.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>'They reflect his mood rather well,' </span>
  </em>
  <span>Y/N thought to herself, and had to keep from smirking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fine," Tony sighed. Several people's jaws fell open but no one showed any sign of challenging him. Y/N was </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> employee, afterall. And this is </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> building, and Loki is </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> prisoner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N had to distract herself from that train of thought before it made her face flush with rage. It's wrong that one man should hold so much power over their lives.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You date whoever you want. But I will have to fire you. 'Don't screw the prisoner' is so obvious I didn't even think to put it in your contract, but it's there. A sort of...unspoken understanding that you are---and have been---violating."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N snarled. "I don't care." She didn't. Working for </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> dating Loki was awkward anyway. It held a displeasing, somewhat grotesque power imbalance. That's what Loki has said, anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And you can't move into a nice New York apartment with him, he has to stay here," Tony added, as if reading her her rights. "You can visit or stay with him, or whatever, but you have to follow the correct protocol. He's still a prisoner."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N waved off Tony's last few conditions, and plain ignored everyone else's recap of their main concerns. One thing was on her mind, and it made it incredibly difficult to stop grinning. </span>
  <em>
    <span>She's allowed to date Loki. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Yes, their relationship won't exactly be...usual, but it will be a </span>
  <em>
    <span>relationship</span>
  </em>
  <span>, which is all that matters. At present, anyway. They can fight for more rights when the time comes, if need be, etcetera. For now, all she wanted to do was go back into the dining room, grab Loki and kiss him. Or take his hand and drag him down to his bedroom and do other things to him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Y/N was finally released, she thanked Thor profusely, thanked Tony reluctantly, and gave the others a nod that she hoped conveyed the full extent of her contempt. Then she swept out of the room, giving the door a satisfying slam behind her. They'd talk about her once she'd left, obviously. No doubt she and Loki would be the main focus of Stark Tower gossip for the foreseeable future, but what's that thing the French say? C'est la vie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Speaking of Loki, where was he? Y/N stood at the head of the mile-long dining table, looking down it's length in search of her boyfriend's bored, moody, or irritated expression---but saw nothing. The room was empty.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>'Perhaps he went back to the flat,' </span>
  </em>
  <span>she thought, although her eyebrows knitted together when she contemplated why. Yes, she had been a while, but she'd expected him to wait for her, especially seeing how lost they'd gotten on the way here. It takes two people to navigate this needlessly complicated building.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sighing, Y/N took the back door to the dining hall and began the trek (it is a trek. Even with the elevator skipping the majority of the journey it's still a mini adventure that requires a compass and a bag of supplies). At first she kept her eyes peeled for a very lost Loki. Then she started to wonder if the tower was magic, the corridors constantly changing and shifting---like those in a Harry Potter novel---and doubts that they were even in the same building started to tickle at her mind. They could probably wander for years and never cross paths. Some time in the future a janitor will find their skeletons, their bodies having died of starvation, propped up against the wall, shielding their eye sockets from the icy stare of the LED bulbs overhead.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Finally</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Y/N found a door she recognised; the one to Loki's apartment. The only way it stood out form any of the rest is the fact that it had spindly little surveillance cameras protruding from the surrounding walls like spiky metal mushrooms. She felt like those people in movies who have been at sea so long they kiss the ground as soon as they step off their ship. She'd kiss the door, she was so happy to see it, but guessed it probably smelled of whatever polish Tony made the cleaner uses to make it shine like that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The handle was cold under Y/N's hand as she pushed the door open, but that wasn't what she was thinking about. She was thinking about the fact that the door </span>
  <em>
    <span>hadn't</span>
  </em>
  <span> opened. The handle was solid and unmoving, her weight bumping into it and she stepped back, disorientated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Confused, Y/N fished around her bag for the set of keys she kept for just such an occasion. Loki's door was usually left unlocked---he is free to walk around the rest of the tower, for exercise, afterall---but just in case he decided to lock her out, Y/N had been given her own set. She'd never used it; even when her and Loki's relationship was still new and his trust in her was unsteady, he still hadn't demanded privacy so obviously.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>'Why even lock the door?' </span>
  </em>
  <span>Y/N wondered as she turned the key, hearing the mechanism give a satisfying click she had never heard before, </span>
  <em>
    <span>'If he wanted to keep the Avengers out it would take more than that.' </span>
  </em>
  <span>After all, she's pretty sure Tony has a key to his own prison room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Loki," Y/N called as the door finally gave her access. The room inside was bright with light; so he </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> made it home. Or to the very loose definition of his 'home'. "You left me to find my way back all by myself. I could have gotten lost and died of dehydration." She nudged the door closed with her foot and threw her bag onto the sofa, following the flow of the flat to the bedroom, where she deduced Loki to be. Doing what, she didn't know. Perhaps he was reading on the bed? And he's at a very interesting part, so interesting that he' didn't even hear her come in, that's why he didn't come to greet her at the door like he usually does.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gave the closed bedroom door a little tap with the back of her hand. "Can I come in?"</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>No one answered so Y/N pushed the door open. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A narrow beam of light cut the hallway in half, the glow coming from the basic little bulb on Loki's bedside table. Tony really hadn't tried very hard with what was to be Loki's 'home' for the foreseeable future, had he? ---If he'd even had any say in its decor at all. He'd probably just sent some employees he didn't know the names of down to Ikea with the instruction to purchase only the bare essentials. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>How Loki would choose to decorate, had he been given the chance?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Said god was, as predicted, stretched out on his bed, a book held open before him with one large, slender hand. He didn't look up, his eyes just continued to slide back and forth across the page. Y/N could tell he wasn't really reading, though. His gaze had faltered as she took a few more steps into the room, his hazy daydream-riddled look falling away like a badly-fitting mask.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He's paying attention but trying to look like he isn't.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N put her hands squarely on her hips. "What's gotten you so sulky?" She teased, hoping it would make him look up or move or </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scoop her up in his long, strong arms, like he usually does.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catch her bottom lip for a kiss that makes her knees as weak as wet spaghetti, like he usually does.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Give her his full attention, like he usually does.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nothing." That's the least convincing lie he's ever told. Frankly, its quality was embarrassing, for The God Of Mischief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, something's wrong, obviously." Y/N came closer to the bed, stopping when her knees bumped into the mattress. She didn't have the nerve to climb onto it with him, although she wants to. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> wants to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once, she came to tidy his room before he had gotten up, and the sight of him messy-haired and sleepy-eyed, surrounded by rumpled duvet, had been so endearing it had taken all her strength not to climb under the covers with him. To cuddle or ride him, she didn't really care. Both, not in that particular order. Loki must have known this, or had similar fantasies about sliding his arms around Y/N's middle and enveloping her in the bedsheets because every day after that he'd been up and dressed by the time Y/N knocked at the apartment door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki's bed had always remained sort of unspokenly off-limits. Y/N is </span>
  <em>
    <span>allowed</span>
  </em>
  <span> on it, she's just avoided it. Being anywhere near that mattress was too tempting. Kisses were always stopped, desires reeled in before they had ever gotten far enough to start a disorganised stagger to the bedroom. Y/N had rarely been in Loki's bedroom at all, to be honest. Her visits were all strictly professional; to sort his clothes into draws, remove his sheets for washing, etcetera.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>'That's not my job anymore,' </span>
  </em>
  <span>Y/N realised with a dulled sort of surprise. She'll never be doing that again---washing, tidying, cleaning this apartment---Y/N knew Loki would somehow make sure of that. Maybe a new cleaner would be hired. Or they'd do the housework together---as he'd sometimes begged her to let him do; spreading sheets between themselves and coming together to fold them, racing to see who could find the corners of the duvet fastest. Housework. The faintest hint of a grin ghosted over the lower half of Y/N's face at the mental image of her and Loki being all domestic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What if they're right?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N knew who Loki was referring to, but blinked a few times all the same, her eyelids like windscreen wipers neatly sweeping away mental images of him making breakfast in pyjamas, Googling how to fix a clogged sink, them arguing about who gets The Good Pillow. Loki's voice had caught her off guard, his lips barely moving as he spoke, the sharp angle of his nose still pointed squarely at the bottom left paragraph. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"They're not," Y/N stated. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki slotted a bookmark into </span>
  <em>
    <span>The Green Mile</span>
  </em>
  <span>, marking his place, and leaned over to put it on the bedside table. His shirt came untucked from his trousers as he stretched, exposing a narrow slash of his china-cup pale skin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It made Y/N's stomach tingle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But what if they are?" He'd turned back to look at her now, finally. His gaze cutting into her in a way that reminded Y/N he wasn't a man of Earth. "They have a point. I keep telling you about the things I've done, keep pointing out my faults, and you never listen."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of course not."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, maybe you </span>
  <em>
    <span>should</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I mean, why are you still here?" He didn't say it angrily, he said it in a voice small and confused as if it genuinely puzzled him. He brought the narrow length of his legs up into a crossed position, a neat furling of limbs, turning his whole body to face Y/N curiously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N elected to ignore his question. "Why did you leave dinner without me?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki rose one dark eyebrow at the sudden change of subject, but collected himself and answered all the same: "I waited for ten minutes. Then twenty. Then, by thirty, I started to wonder if you'd just...left. Left the building, left my life. I thought: 'She's had my truths poured over her for half an hour, she must have seen sense and ran for the hills'."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You thought I'd walked out of your life for good and your reaction is to lounge on a bed reading Stephen King?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, I knew you hadn't left once I saw your belongings still strewn about the flat. I figured you would have stopped off here to collect them." His cheekbones suffused with a sprinkling of pink. "I would have gone back to the dining room to meet you but this wretched building is like a maze."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N's mouth opened and closed several times, words getting jammed up in her throat. Loki had thought she'd leave him---? How badly had others treated him for him to think she'd just toss him aside like a used Kleenex? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Timidity doesn't suit Loki's face. It didn't sit well with all his sharp angles and clean lines. Y/N wanted to reach out and touch him, any part of him---run her hands through his hair, pepper his tissue-paper-soft skin with kisses, or something. "You thought I'd </span>
  <em>
    <span>leave</span>
  </em>
  <span> you? Without even saying goodbye or explaining myself?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shrugged; a numb, matter-of-fact gesture. He hadn't just thought she would, he'd expected it. "Yes. Who wouldn't?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time Y/N did touch him. She clambered onto the mattress so quickly she didn't even have time to think about the fact that she was </span>
  <em>
    <span>on Loki's bed. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Almost roughly, she gathered him up, nuzzling her face into the side of his neck with so much force she felt his torso stiffen with the effort of keeping them upright. It is amusing how an act of violence leaves Loki standing, stubborn and unmoving, but a gesture of affection has the power to almost topple him over. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> wouldn't."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Body loosening as he allowed himself to be held, Loki's arms tentatively snaked about Y/N's waist so he could tug her closer into the curve of his lanky figure. Y/N turned her head and kissed the stretch of muscle below his ear that disappeared into his shirt, her hand spread at the masculine ridge of his shoulder blade sliding up to tangle in his hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So you're really staying?" Loki clarified, finding the crook of Y/N's neck and burying his nose in it as he revelled in what it felt like to be adored.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N was kissing the smooth bump of his adam's apple now. She kind of felt like crying. "Yes, I'm staying. No one will ever be able to convince me otherwise."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a moment where no one said anything, then Y/N felt Loki's torso expand in her arms as he filled it with enough breath to turn into words:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"When you came in I thought you were only stopping by to collect your things."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That explains why he'd just carried on reading; he was under the impression that she'd come into his room to break things off. Snap their relationship in two. For someone so vein, Loki isn't half insecure. He's put up with almost a thousand years of being convinced he's not enough; not enough of a ruler to be king, not enough of a son to be worthy, not enough of an extravert to be a friend. That must do something to a person's brain. To their heart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You worry too much," Y/N sighed, parting her lips enough to catch the lobe of his ear between the rocky line of her teeth, giving it a playful little tug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A feeble, bitten down sound of pleasure pushed up from Loki's lungs at the attention, the feel of it, his grip tightening on the swell of Y/N's hips. He let his legs stretch out along the length of the bed and urged Y/N onto his lap, eager to display affection now that he knows he can.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now that she still </span>
  <em>
    <span>wants</span>
  </em>
  <span> his affections.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still wants </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N pulled out of their embrace enough to meet Loki's eyes, her hands cupping either side of the clean-cut line of his jaw. The bones slotted into the warm cradles of her palms as if they'd been sculpted specifically for that purpose. To be loved by her. It fell open slightly---his jaw---with Y/N's touch, and he stared up at her, his breath little huffs of air feathering against her chin. "How could you think I'd ever stop loving you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gave her a weak smile. "Earlier you said you didn't want to feed my ego. I think you should know that, despite the rather expertly cultivated impression I project, my ego is actually piteously undernourished."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A giggle bubbled up from Y/N's chest even though his words hadn't been particularly funny. It was just the way he'd said it, the memory of their earlier conversation, the </span>
  <em>
    <span>relief</span>
  </em>
  <span> that they're back to playful teasing once again. Back on the same page.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The fact that they're </span>
  <em>
    <span>allowed</span>
  </em>
  <span> on the same page.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki was laughing too, his pretty mouth twitching up at the corners. Y/N dipped her head, pressing her lips to his smile, feeling it against the kiss she gave him.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>They're allowed on the same page.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Using a thumb and forefinger at Loki's chin, Y/N nudged his jaw a little further open, her own smile stifling the edge of his grateful groan. Loki kept turning his head, chasing her lips, trying to deepen the kiss, but, grinning, Y/N didn't comply. Not yet. Having </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span> under </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span> hands is a novelty; she intends to play. Plus, she doesn't know how long he'll let it last. It'll probably be a mere matter of minutes before he leaps on her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But for now, he's just sitting back and taking it, propped against the headboard, making little satisfied sounds when Y/N's touch graced over something he particularly liked. Just having her body resting on the warm strength of this thighs was enough to make his abdomen clench in on itself, that familiar delicious ache as her weight pressed him into the bed. So often he's the one giving, but now he's <em>receiving</em>, and he likes it, Y/N rebuilding his self-confidence, his self-worth, slotting the broken fragments together with gentle fondling and tender caresses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Y/N broke the kiss, he gave her a malcontent frown.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It made Y/N laugh, and she kissed the space between his eyebrows, teasing away his glower like an iron smoothing out creases in fabric with its warmth. In a low voice laced with honey: "Hey...everyone knows about us now." Another kiss, this time to the side of his nose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki stared back at her, his pupils wide and dark and glinting. They're feasting on Y/N's face, hungrily consuming her features, sliding over the curves of her cheeks, the soft shadows the bedside light cast over her skin. One side of his narrow mouth was tweaking up into a wicked smirk. "Yep."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know what that means?" Y/N crooned, shifting in his lap, the brush of friction making Loki shudder, a breathy moan tumbling from his mouth. Y/N is so close to him, so close she could taste the bitter-sweet, tang of dark chocolate; he must have nicked something from the fridge for dessert while she'd been receiving a lecture from superheroes about her life choices. Of course Loki favours his treats to be drowning in acerbic </span>
  <em>
    <span>dark</span>
  </em>
  <span> chocolate, as sharp and butter as his tongue, rather than docile milk, or mild white. How quintessential.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It means we can walk about this wretched tower holding hands," Loki said, his voice tangling Y/N's nerves in silk. He'd dipped his head to press his own caresses to Y/N's neck, giving back, now, leaving a prickly trail of goosebumps in his wake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shivered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It means I need to clear a space in my chest of draws for your clothes." Another kiss, lower this time, one of his bony, slender fingers inching the neck of Y/N's top down enough to nudge his nose against one of her collarbones. "It means I'm allowed to do this."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly and expertly Loki pushed Y/N's back into the mattress, settling his body between her legs. Sometimes Y/N wondered if he interlaces magic with his movements---he's so slick, so dexterous, so graceful---and this is one of those times. He's beaming down at her, his thumb running slowly over her lips as if they're his favourite food. They parted, the pad of his thumb dragging them open and he kissed her, swallowing her grateful moan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Will Y/N ever know how crazy she makes him? Will she ever fully understand the magnitude of desire, fondness, </span>
  <em>
    <span>love</span>
  </em>
  <span> that just her presence somehow manages to stir deep within him? Probably not. He doesn't even understand it himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You wanted our first time to be special," Y/N gasped when Loki broke the kiss to breathe---for her benefit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He'd happily drown in this, her pliant little body aching with so much longing she'd already brought her legs up to circle his narrow waist, the magpie-breast-black of his hair clutched between her fingers. Every time she'd brushed his head with her nails, caught a few strands and tugged him closer, Loki's rumbling purs of pleasure had vibrated from his chest and into hers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You wanted the first time we're together to be proper; no sneaking around, no time limits, no creeping my way out of the apartment and dodging security cameras." Y/N kissed him again. She couldn't help it, she felt as though she'd been scouring a desert and he was her first taste of water in weeks. "Now, we have all the time in the world."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Good." Loki kissed below her chin, urging her head back on the pillow so he had enough room to pay proper attention to her neck. Mouthing at it, dragging his teeth along the stretch of skin connecting it to her shoulder, pausing every now and again to suck and nibble and pamper. He likes how it made her grip on his hair tighten. He's found a new sphere of confidence now, Y/N's obvious need for his touch returning some of his swagger. He was smirking as he said:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Because we're going to need it."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their skin is still separated by their clothes, and Y/N felt Loki's belt scrape across her material-covered abdomen as she canted her waist against the heat building between their bodies. Loki made a weak little moaning sound that turned into a huffed laugh that skittered over Y/N's bones. She tilted her head, hoping his humid breath would caress her lips in the same way it had just swirled on her neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I can't believe we're here," Loki said softly, his voice so gritty Y/N barely recognised it. Rubbing herself up against him must have had more of an effect than she'd anticipated. He took Y/N's tongue again, releasing her only when the shaky edge of a gasp escaped her chest. "I've had so long to think about how I want you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Him, here, talking like this, his lips delivering those words directly into Y/N's mouth for her to eat up---she shifted her hips again, cursing her clothes. They'd waited for </span>
  <em>
    <span>so long.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, it occured to Y/N that it doesn't matter that they're here. Sure, it would have been nice to be spread out over a mattress one of them </span>
  <em>
    <span>owned, </span>
  </em>
  <span>in an apartment or a house or whatever, that one of them </span>
  <em>
    <span>owned. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Maybe at Y/N's flat, or the palace Loki used to live in back on his home planet. Plush sheets, pillows littering the head of the bed, the duvets thick and lavish, the walls covered in </span>
  <em>
    <span>their </span>
  </em>
  <span>artwork, </span>
  <em>
    <span>their </span>
  </em>
  <span>photographs, </span>
  <em>
    <span>their </span>
  </em>
  <span>shelves and trinkets---etcetera. Being in their own space rather than a cushy prison would have been nice---</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But now that Y/N thinks about it, it would have j</span>
  <em>
    <span>ust </span>
  </em>
  <span>been nice. None of that stuff is important, really, in the grand scheme of things. All Y/N needs is Loki, Loki and whatever he's doing at the hollow between her collarbones. How does that feel so </span>
  <em>
    <span>good?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's funny, though," Loki continued, breathless now. "Now that we're actually here, you're here in my arms and I'm allowed to do as I wish---" He licked the column of Y/N's neck in one long, slow sweep of his pointed tongue, "---I can't actually decide where to start."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N would be lying if she claimed not to be embarrassed. A different kind of heat rose to her cheeks as she realised she was utterly ready for him and yet they hadn't even started. All he'd have to do is dip a hand into the band of her underwear and he'd find the blatantly obvious evidence of that. And yet, she</span>
  <span> doesn't know what she wants to do either. It had all seemed so simple when Loki's svelte body was off-limits; Y/N would catch the sun reflecting off the sheen of his hair, or mentally trace the curve of a bicep or deltoid, and what she wanted to do to him would pop into her head clear as day. But now? Now that she can do a</span>
  <em>
    <span>nything, </span>
  </em>
  <span>have him do </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything... </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>So many choices.</span>
  <em>
    
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Where to begin?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He's drawing a string of kisses around Y/N's neck again, low on her chest like a necklace made of nothing but sensation, his touch echoing long after he'd moved on to somewhere else. That would feel wonderful in a few other places, a coy voice reminded Y/N from somewhere at the back of her mind. So, replenishing her lungs with some much-needed oxygen, she found one of Loki's slender wrists and guided it to the hem of her top.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki paused midway through sucking a bruise over her sternum---the jewel hanging from the necklace of kisses he'd created---and pulled back enough to meet Y/N's eyes. His pupils were almost drowning out their outline of lime-green; although they'd darkened to a deeper, more mossy colour now, like a forest at dusk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Start here."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A smile curled the lower half of Loki's face, which he dipped, to take Y/N's swollen lips in a slow, drawn-out kiss. A second later, or maybe a minute, it was hard to tell, she felt his fingers find their way under the material of her shirt. Little tingling sensations buzzed about Y/N's midriff as Loki lightly began stroking delicate circles onto her ribs. "Yes, this could work," He purred, watching a shiver skitter up Y/N's spine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a little while he did this, just brushing the edge of one cool finger over her lower chest. Then the circles broadened, inching their way from one rib up to the next, then the next, and the next. Y/N made a little gasping noise as he touched the underside of her breast, Loki stifling the sound with his mouth as if he was trying to swallow it. She opened her jaw to him, his tongue slipping in, caressing hers, then flicking against the roof of her mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"May I?" His voice slipped into Y/N's ears like a ribbon, tangling up her every electrified nerve. His hand had paused it's stroking. It wasn't waiting for (unnecessary) consent. He's teasing her again, wanting to hear her plead for it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded, kissing that stupid smirk off his face, catching his bottom lip to bite at it. "Please do."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her kiss had distracted him more than she thought it would, thrown him off balance because he just melted into it, a little more of his weight coming to rest on the length of Y/N's body. The corners of her lips twitched up as she gave him a little nudge. He went along with it, utterly plaint, so she kept going, pushing him down onto his back so she could straddle him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>On top, she broke the kiss and sat back on his hips, grinning down at his put-out expression smugly. He looks good trapped below her, his dark hair ruffled over the pillow, contrasting harshly with their stark white cotton. His skin is usually that colour too, but now it's flushed a delicate pastel pink, his eyes wide and alive, staring up at her with a light in them that suggests he's </span>
  <em>
    <span>letting </span>
  </em>
  <span>her push him around. Any minute now he's going to grab her and take control again. But he'll let her play first. He likes receiving just as much as giving. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He <em>feels</em> good under her too. </span>
  <span>His large hands had found Y/N's hips, settled comfortably on them, but she didn't want them there. They'd been so close to where she wanted them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So she took off her shirt and unclipped her bra.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki's eyes went as wide as saucers, boyish wonder overriding his cool for a split second. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Y/N had time to fully appreciate the fact that she'd rendered Loki’s smart-mouth speechless, his smirk was back. He looked like he wanted to eat her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hello," he crooned, his pale gaze shamelessly sliding from Y/N's eyes to her bare chest. She felt him harden below her, that strength between her legs. It doesn't take much, it seems. He's waited so long.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The room---and Loki---is chilly, just a little because that's the way he likes it, and Y/N's skin is reacting to the fact, tightening and budding with goosebumps. And because one of Loki's hands has slipped up her chest to cup one of her breasts. She hadn't even noticed it traveling there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sat up into a sitting position to capture Y/N's lips as he explored her curves, how they fitted perfectly into the large spread of his hand, a little rough in a hardened, masculine way, but soft too, soft and gentle. His other one had snaked up Y/N's back to settle in her hair, nudging her head forward so he could kiss her deeply, drawing up little sounds from her lungs. He swallowed each one hungrily, then lapped at her mouth for more, shifting below her weight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N wanted his shirt off too, but it's impossible to think whilst Loki's doing that thing he does with his jaw. She broke the kiss---somehow---not that Loki seemed to mind. He just latched onto something else, tipping his head to give Y/N's neck some more attention. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Trying to even out her breathing (because she's gasping and it's embarrassing), Y/N started fiddling with his shirt buttons, the muscles in her fingers like cake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She'd only unfastened one when she felt something---something good---and her hand in Loki's hair tightened as a little moan fell from her mouth. This, her reaction to such a simple movement, earnt her an amused chuckle from where Loki's lips were mouthing at her skin. He'd found his way to her left breast and his tongue---maybe feeling left out? had decided to join in with his lip's exploration. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You have no idea how much I love these," he muttered, as he moved over to her right nipple, both his hands gripping low on her back. His arousal is more than obvious, now, hard as granite against her. It was so distracting Y/N hadn't managed to undo his shirt yet. She just ground her hips down onto him, an instinctual response, and he groaned, finding the sensation so pleasing it actually momentarily distracted him from what he'd been doing (something to do with sucking). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We haven't even started yet, but I already know that fucking you is going to be my favourite thing.” Loki purred, find Y/N's lips again, his velvety voice so guttural and raw she hardly recognised it. "I'm going to fuck you in every room in this blasted apartment. And up against every wall." He'd started unbuttoning his shirt, finally, taking over from where Y/N had left off probably just so he could feel her aching breasts pressing against his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N shoved Loki's hands out the way, he's going too </span>
  <em>
    <span>slow</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and he chuckled at her desperacy, deep and mellow before nudging her fingers aside and resuming at his own languorous pace. He's doing it on purpose. Tantalising her, teasing her as if he's enjoying the fact that it's torture.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Loki’s shirt fell open, Y/N pushed back from his kiss to let her eyes slide down that narrow column of exposed skin. The look she'd been giving him---something like a wolfish grin---must have done something to him because he made a little hungry noise and flipped them back over, pushing Y/N onto the mattress. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She lay, slightly out of breath as he stepped off the bed. Y/N made a little whining noise of protest and Loki smirked down at her sprawled almost-naked before him as he shrugged his shirt from his shoulders, tossing it, discarded onto the floor. Y/N swallowed, her abdomen coiled in anticipation as his hands slipped down to his hips, and started undoing his belt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her breasts tightened and his eyes dropped, watching. He knows full well that he's magnificent as he slides off his underwear with---excuse the pun---cocky temerity. The length of him, that had been pressing against his trousers for the past ten minutes with impressive demand, sprang free. He's naked, finally utterly naked, apart from that smirk, that damn curling grin at one corner of his mouth as he stares at Y/N, all vulnerable on the bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her mouth went dry. She wants him, wants every single inch of him. And yet all she can do is stare. She'd seen him shirtless before---just several hours ago, in fact---but now she was seeing </span>
  <em>
    <span>all</span>
  </em>
  <span> of him, and making their first time 'special' has suddenly become incredibly difficult. She'd rather just eat him up. Metaphorically of course (although, she would like to take the slight softness at the centre of his stomach and bite). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or have </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span> eat </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span> up. She doesn't care so long as that ache between her legs gets tended to as soon as possible. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her jaw had fallen open slightly as her gaze swept over all six foot two of what was literally just pure, solid Frost Giant, muscles creating soft hills, bones making jagged angles, the two clean-cut lines at his pelvis dragging your eyes proudly downwards. He’s a god. She knows it, now; not that she'd ever doubted---he excuses power like a tree produces oxygen. And just seeing him at dinner this evening, surrounded by mortal men...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Y/N had had time to wonder how she'd got so lucky, Loki had prowled to the bottom of the bed and started easing off her trousers.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sorry," he smirked, and Y/N knew he wasn’t sorry at all when he said: "I should have asked permission. But..." a lingering look at her expression, desperate eyes and flushed cheeks, "I didn't think that was necessary."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Shut up," Y/N teased when he crawled across the mattress to her, using her parted lips to slip her another kiss. It wasn’t gentle, it wasn’t soft; it was wild and unrestrained, all mouth, and the clashing of teeth. It made her drag his muscular body over her, between her already wide open thighs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He moaned into her mouth in satisfaction, sending sensation rolling up Y/N’s spine and she gripped at the neat blades of his shoulders for some kind of support, wrapping her legs about his middle. This got more amused chuckling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And something else. One of his hands had started to wander again; southwards; down to splay at her belly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"May I?" He purred as the hand at her stomach dipped down to thumb at the band of her pants. He gave the elastic a playful little twang and Y/N nodded, panting out a pleading little:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes," she gulped, trying to calm her breathing enough to add: "Please." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still smirking, he kissed her again, but softer this time, toying with her again. Y/N felt him grin against her lips as he discovered the wetness between her legs, and she blushed. He has such an effect on her, and he knows this, and he likes it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sorry to keep you waiting," he purred. "Here I was trying to seduce you and yet apparently…" a languid stroke with the pad of his finger. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A shudder rippling through Y/N's core.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"...there really was no need."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This got him a glare and a little flick over the back of his head with Y/N's hand. He laughed, and Y/N tried to glower up at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Says you," she shot back, moving one leg up to rub along the inside of his thigh, brushing the solid length of his arousal. He tensed up, momentarily losing focus. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N's smug grin melted when Loki managed to collect himself and resumed what he was doing, dipping his head to swallow her little mews of pleasure. She moved one hand up to grip his hair again, and when her fingers tightened on the thick strands he suddenly plunged his finger in deeper, getting a desperate sob that made him twitch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His hand took up a leisurely pace, plunging in and out, slow and hard, Y/N's very existence narrowing to the feel of him. Her hips moved with him, driving him deeper; she's so </span>
  <em>
    <span>close</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she could feel that familiar tightening building---</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he pulled away, breaking the kiss, his movements ceasing, and Y/N made a frustrated little growling sound, getting another chuckle. He keeps doing that; laughing at her, his eyes all twinkling with mischief and that arrogant smirk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then he did something really annoying. He retracted his fingers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N watched, dazed and trembling, as he brought the digits to his lips, her glistening on his pale skin. His eyes slipped closed as he put those fingers in his mouth and sucked on them, humming at the taste of her. Y/N swallowed heavily. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then suddenly he climbed off her---and the mattress--entirely. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N sat up. "Where are you going?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This got her a curling grin from where Loki had strayed to the end of the bed, </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Be patient," he muttered, well, taunted, and Y/N laid back down again, crossing her arms, trying to look cross. It was difficult to look cross with him before her, like that, the full, impressive length of him so <em>close </em>and yet so far---</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Is it possible to die from lack of sexual gratification? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I couldn't very well do anything with these pesky little things in the way, could I?" He hooked one long, slender finger into the band of Y/N's knickers and began tugging them downwards. Slowly. Too damn slowly. "Well, I could, but it wouldn't be my best work." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her pants passed her thighs, her knees, her ankles, and Y/N felt her stomach clench now as she lay---fully exposed---before him. Loki grinned down wolfishly at her, tossing her underwear over one shoulder. He's going to eat her, he's going to consume her and she knew it, and had to bite back a pleading little whine to hurry up and do it already.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I want you," he crooned, voice thick as honey as he stood again, then took both of Y/N's ankles in his large hands and yanked her to the edge of the bed. "All spread out like my personal feast."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made an exhilarated little squeak, that tightening in her midsection a low, dull ache, the desperate throbbing between her legs becoming almost painful. From her laying down position, she watched as Loki's dark head fell several feet; he'd dropped to the floor and is kneeling before her, his eyes simmering as he hooked her legs over either of his broad shoulders. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He---Loki, son of The Allfather, Prince of Asgard---who kneels for no one, is bowed before Y/N. And he seems very happy about the fact.</span>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Loki didn't give Y/N what she wanted---needed---, even then. He made her wait for it, tauntingly pressing a trail of kisses up her left leg, starting at the bony ridge of her ankle, all the way along her calf to the sensitive underside of her knee. When he got to the soft span of her thighs he sucked, his tongue straying so close; a lethal, taunting exploration, the pad of his lips grazing and nudging.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Please," she breathed as he inches closer, closer to that bundle of nerves aching for attention.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mmmm." Was his only reply. It could have been a laugh, or perhaps he's finally agreed that she's waited long enough, </span>
  <em>
    <span>played </span>
  </em>
  <span>with her long enough</span>
  <em>
    <span>.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Either way, the sound vibrated straight into Y/N’s core, and at that exact same moment, he heeded her wishes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first lick of his tongue set her on fire. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He growled in approval at her groan, her taste, one large hand splayed at her hips to pin her to the bed. Nonsensical strings of syllables tumbled from Y/N's mouth as Loki worked her in great sweeping motions. Hungrily, like a man half-starved, he feasted on her, dragging his tongue right up her centre then plunged it </span>
  <em>
    <span>into</span>
  </em>
  <span> her. She cried out, that little bit of friction just what she needed, her climax shattering through her, turning her vision white. Loki still didn't stop, guiding her through those rippling waves of pleasure. He remained kneeling, long languid strokes until she went over the edge again, and again, she'd lost count, lost track of everything. Nothing exists besides the insistent stroking, the firm, demanding probing of Loki's pointed tongue and the pleasure it provides, each release merging into one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Only when Y/N was shaking, limp and sobbing did he pull away, raising his head with a wicked smirk. Y/N panted, hands fisting the sheets, still spread before him on the bed as he clambered gracefully onto the mattress. One smooth motion and he’d be inside her---</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he just watched her, eyes glazed as if sleepy, giving her a chance to catch her breath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She doesn't want to catch her breath. She needs him. Right now, her whole body humming for close contact.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Loki," she breathed, his voice a plea on her lips. She opened her eyes properly, letting them drop to take in the splendid, proud length of him. Her core tightened in answer. She wriggled on the sheets, desperate for any type of friction, the feeling of him inside her, filling her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So impatient," he chuckled again, his voice rough and quiet. His eyes did not leave hers as he prowled closer, getting between her legs. He found Y/N’s hands, palm-up on the bedsheets, and interlaced his fingers with hers. Beneath the desire, beneath his hooded gaze, there was a softness. A fondness that told Y/N that despite his lust---superhuman and bordering on animalistic---he would be gentle. Y/N is but a mortal, and is conscious of the fact, and will treat her tenderly. And because she is his partner. His equal. His mate. The softness in his eyes says so whenever he looks at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I love you," She said. Not with any particular tone. Just a statement. A fact. He probably already knew it but she wanted him to hear it again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grinning, Loki bent down to kiss softly at Y/N's neck as he nudged at her entrance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She whimpered, </span>
  <em>
    <span>begging </span>
  </em>
  <span>him, and it was his undoing. Finally, eventually, mercifully, he slid in. And in. And in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His breath brushed her ear. "I love you too."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With that, Y/N's lips claimed his mouth, dragging her tongue over his teeth, swallowing his groan. He'd paused inside her---so she could adjust, get used to the awesome fullness of him. Or to savour the moment, she wasn't sure. With excruciating slowness, he pulled out and broke the kiss enough to study Y/N’s face, to revel in her reaction as he thrust back in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The result was spectacular; Y/N's back arching up in answer, her hands clinging to Loki's on the mattress at either side of her head. His lips closed over hers to swallow the sound, his tongue deep in her mouth while she shuddered around him. She's gripping him desperately, her fingers digging into the lean muscles, sinewy bones, the firm strength beneath as his hips rolled in gentle thrusts.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're finally mine," he purred, lips brushing the lobs of Y/N's ear, wanting him deeper, faster. He obliged with a chuckle, the sound rumbling through his whole body and into hers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That softness is there, in his eyes. His gaze is warm, contrasting against the rest of him which is as pale and powerful as a winter storm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He's home. He may be miles from the planet he was born on, trapped in a prison on a world he doesn't even like that much---</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he's home. Settled between the inviting softness of Y/N's thighs, taking up a lazy, rhythmic pace, in and out, their hands clasped and clammy on the sheets. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N, thinking the same thing, managed to smirk up at him, his long dark hair brushing the side of her face. "And you are mine."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki made a low noise that sounded vaguely like a whimper and sheathed himself again, all at once, right up to the hilt. Y/N moaned, gasped, couldn’t get enough breath or enough of him, and clung to his hands pulled out and did it again. Every glorious inch of him, plunging in, faster, deeper until Y/N toppled over the edge, Loki following quickly after, Y/N’s name a gasp on his lips as release tore through his body.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Y/N spent the night in Loki's room. And the one after that. Then every night, selling her own apartment and becoming a permanent resident. She found a new line of work, one that suited her much more than simply tidying up someone else's mess. Tony Stark had been true to his word, terminating her contract and cutting off her paycheques almost immediately---out of frustration about being overruled rather than spite. Once he'd cooled off, a brief letter of recommendation was passed under Loki's apartment door; Y/N had, after all, been a model employee. Even if she had ended up sleeping with her client.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Although 'sleeping' was the wrong word; she hadn't got much of that done. Maybe it was a good thing she didn't have to work the next morning, she wouldn't have been on time anyway because daybreak just excited Loki more, the light meaning he could properly feast his eyes on what he was doing and to whom he was doing it to. That's how Y/N been woken up, actually; Loki nibbling at her neck like he was a vampire trying to decide where to drain her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, yes, not much sleep had been acquired last night. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>'Prince' my arse,' </span>
  </em>
  <span>Y/N had thought vaguely through a pleasure-filled haze at around 3 am. Someone whose tongue had been brought up to deliver forced pleasantries and remain rigid with self-discipline shouldn't be able to move like that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That hadn't been their first time, it had been their---well, Y/N wasn't actually sure. She'd lost count---or it had been hard to keep count because Loki didn't seem to have an off switch. He was </span>
  <em>
    <span>ravenous</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Y/N was equally to blame, but exhaustion eventually caught up with her, although Loki didn’t seem to be affected. He could just go on and on and on, and he did, for hours. He somehow seemed to have access to a never-ending amount of energy. No sooner had he roared himself through one orgasm was he searching for the next, hunting for Y/N's too, pleasure the only thing on his mind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Y/N lay in the protective cocoon of Loki's long, strong limbs when they had eventually decided to sleep, she kept half expecting to hear someone burst the door open and tear them apart. Despite the fact that the Avengers had let Y/N continue to date Loki, she wouldn't put it past them to come crashing in here and force her to leave. For her own safety, of course. She kept thinking they'd storm into the flat, grab her under the armpits and throw her out onto the sidewalk, explaining as they did so that it was 'for her own good' because 'you just don't know what he's capable of'.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What Loki was capable of, it turned out, was delivering mind-blowing amounts of pleasure---for </span>
  <em>
    <span>stupid</span>
  </em>
  <span> amounts of time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That wouldn’t be surprising; him being a god, and all. Their powers probably stray into every aspect of their anatomy, gifting them with strength, a vastly long lifespan, and such capacity in the bedroom department it's a wonder any females in the nine realms get any sleep at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe having to bottle up his lust for so long could also account for some of his hunger, his wild, unchecked passion? Perhaps, like a seed left unattended to, it had grown quietly in the dark, then been released upon Y/N all at once?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or would every time with Loki be that way? Will he get that glazed-over look in his eyes every time he catches sight of Y/N shirtless? Every time she arches her back to stretch? Will something as simple as leaning over to retrieve something she’d dropped always be enough to trigger that insistent lump in his trousers that isn’t satisfied no matter how many times he pounces on her? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N wouldn’t mind that, actually. She’d rather enjoy it. After all, what else is there to do in this plain little apartment? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As if sensing his lover's content, Loki curled himself tighter around her, protectively like a dragon guarding its hoard. Y/N’s head is resting on the solid muscle of his bicep and she can feel him, still hard, flush against her backside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yes, he’s definitely not human. Nothing he’d done had been human, it was all </span>
  <em>
    <span>animal</span>
  </em>
  <span>; possessive, primitive, proprietorial. He was all mouth, somehow, everywhere, hot and humid at Y/N's chin, cheek, neck, stomach---down lower until she was glad they didn't have neighbours. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was doing that now; stroking up and down the length of Y/N's side in time with her breathing with one lazy hand, like he just enjoys having her there, within his reach. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Enjoying yourself?" Y/N teased. She didn't need to see Loki's face to know that he was smiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki's hand came to rest in the dip of her waist and she felt the tender pads of his lips pressing a soft kiss to the side of her neck. It wasn't even a kiss, really, it was more like he was just holding them against her, feeling her pulse thrumming tiredly beneath his touch. She is tired. A good tired, the best kind of tired. "Yes."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Y/N felt the corners of his mouth pull back in a smirk, the cool edges of his teeth as he purred:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I would ask if you enjoyed yourself, but I already know the answer." A teasing nip at the lobe of Y/N's ear, his hand creeping over to splay at her stomach. How is she supposed to sleep now, with him doing that? Holding her like that? How is he still </span>
  <em>
    <span>on?</span>
  </em>
  <span>  "The whole of New York knows you enjoyed yourself."</span>
</p><p><span>If she wasn't utterly spent (and if he wasn't absolutely right), Y/N would have turned herself over and tried to kiss that damn grin off his stupid face. "Says you. Royalty shouldn't know how to do three of the things you did earlier, and </span><em><span>no</span></em> <em><span>one</span></em><span> should know how to do the fourth."</span></p><p>
  <span>The laugh Loki huffed onto her shoulder made Y/N's abdomen curl in on itself, for the millionth time this evening, although God knows where it got the energy to do that. "You forget; I'm not royalty anymore. I am a humble Earth citizen. Somewhat against my will, but still."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Humble? You?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki chuckled again, and this time Y/N did kiss him, pushing herself onto her back so he was propped up over her with one elbow. Several strands of his feathery hair fell onto Y/N's face, tickling the end of her nose. His hair is so black it looks like someone has cut several long slits into the universe. "How can I be humble when I have you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A smile twitched at Y/N's lips. They’re flushed red, moist and kiss-bruised "Flattery will get you nowhere."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One hand had slipped down to draw languid circles around Y/N's navel under the covers. "We'll see about that." </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If I get asked to I'll write the prequel to this story, their meeting/first kiss :-)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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